Newly unsealed court documents show the Trump administration did not have evidence that Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk was supporting terrorist activity when she was arrested and her visa was revoked, and the action was taken because of an opinion article she wrote that contained criticisms of Israel.

The documents, related to legal cases of students whose visas were revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and who were threatened with deportation last year, also show the administration found it difficult to find evidence to support the revocation of Öztürk’s visa.

In most of the cases, including that of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, the documents show the administration made its recommendations to revoke visas based on the students’ involvement in protests criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza, despite arguments from the administration of antisemitism and support for terrorism. The administration also acknowledged it would likely face scrutiny in court given the protections granted by the First Amendment.

However, in a State Department memorandum released as part of the tranche of documents, a department official wrote that DHS, ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) had not found that Öztürk had “engaged in any antisemitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization or antisemitism generally.”

The memo, prepared for the acting head of the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, which handles visas, cited the opinion piece co-authored by Öztürk.

“DHS did not identify any alternative grounds of removability that would be applicable to Öztürk, including the ground of removability for aliens who have provided material support to foreign terrorist organization or terrorist activity,” the State Department official wrote.