The Trump administration has fired a Boston immigration judge who ruled the government had no grounds to deport Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University doctoral student arrested in Somerville by masked immigration agents last year.
Roopal Patel was terminated Friday, according to the New York Times. Her dismissal is one of the latest judge firings among dozens of others as the federal government moves to transform the nation’s immigration courts.
WBUR has not yet independently confirmed her removal from the bench with the federal government. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson with the Executive Office for Immigration Review did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
However, Patel’s name no longer appears on the Department of Justice’s website detailing judges assigned to Boston’s immigration court. The National Association of Immigration Judges also confirmed she was removed Friday.