DALLAS, TX – Today, the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), Muslim Advocates (MA), the CLEAR Project, and Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel (WKPS) filed an emergency request for a status conference in federal court on behalf of Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman recently discharged from the hospital following a medical emergency and returned to Prairieland Detention Facility, where she has been held unjustly for nearly a year.

Not once but twice an immigration judge has found Leqaa releasable on bond. Each time, the government has used procedural loopholes to get pauses on those orders. ICE has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep Leqaa confined based on no evidence and for exercising her constitutionally protected right to protest the genocide in Gaza that has killed nearly 200 of her family members. Leqaa’s recent hospitalization uncovers the cruelty of immigration confinement and the urgent need to regain her liberty. 

Ms. Kordia is represented in her federal lawsuit by TCRP, MA, CLEAR, and WKPS and in her immigration court proceedings by the Boston University School of Law Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. 

“No one should have to endure the degrading conditions ICE has subjected Leqaa to over the past eleven months. She has endured horrors no human being should experience, much less for using her freedom of expression. Leqaa must be released to prevent any further irreparable harm,” said Travis Fife, Staff Attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. 

“It’s been nearly a year since Leqaa was unlawfully detained by ICE, despite an immigration judge twice ordering her release. Every minute she spends in confinement is an injustice; no one should be targeted or punished merely for advocating for Palestinian liberation. With her health now severely deteriorating, it’s even more urgent that she be released.” said Amal Thabateh, Staff Attorney at CLEAR. 

“For nearly a year, Leqaa has been unjustly subjected to inhumane treatment for merely exercising her constitutionally protected right to attend a protest against the genocide in Gaza that has taken the lives of nearly a generation of her family. Her recent medical crisis makes one thing unmistakenly clear: she must immediately be released from ICE custody. Her health and safety depend on it.” said Sadaf Hasan, Staff Attorney at Muslim Advocates.

Press Contact: Golnaz Fakhimi, [email protected]; 202-655-2969