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

DALLAS, TX – Attorneys and family members of Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian Muslim woman confined by ICE for nearly a year, are demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security and Prairieland Detention Facility regarding her health and whereabouts. 

Ms. Kordia was reportedly hospitalized yesterday morning after fainting and having a seizure at the Prairieland Detention Center. Neither her legal team nor family have been provided answers about where she has been hospitalized, the specifics of her health status, and whether and how ICE will ensure her health upon discharge from the undisclosed, off-site hospital. We have since learned that she is expected to spend another night there, but we still have not been able to speak with her directly or have any confirmation of what brought her to the hospital in the first place. 

Since March 14, 2025, ICE has confined Ms. Kordia unlawfully in Prairieland Detention Facility for speaking out about the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has killed nearly 200 of her family members. An immigration judge has twice determined Ms. Kordia to be releasable, but DHS has exploited administrative loopholes to keep her confined. For nearly one year, Ms. Kordia has been separated from her family and community in New Jersey, more than 1,500 miles away. In her time in ICE custody, she has struggled with dizziness, fainting episodes, and other signs of poor nutrition. 

Last month, 34 Texas State legislators issued a letter, led by State Representative Salman Bhojani, urging DHS to release Ms. Kordia immediately. 

Ms. Kordia is represented in her federal lawsuit by the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), Muslim Advocates (MA), the CLEAR Project, and Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel (WKPS) and in her immigration removal proceedings by the Boston University School of Law Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. 

“We are beyond worried; we are all terrified. DHS has refused to tell any of us what hospital she was taken to let alone confirm whether Leqaa is even alive. When I saw her last week, separated by wired glass, she was so ill that she could not even lift the phone to her ear to speak to me. Her condition was visibly alarming. She looked frail, pale, and exhausted,” said Hamzah Abushaban, cousin of Leqaa Kordia. “She told me she feels as though she is ‘slowly dying in here.’ The government’s silence, combined with her rapid physical decline, raises the gravest fears for her life. Our family is demanding immediate answers, medical transparency, and her release before it is too late.” 

“Leqaa has been wrongfully detained almost a year under egregious conditions and DHS’ silence regarding her whereabouts and condition have left her family, friends, and counsel in the dark. We demand that Leqaa’s family immediately receive notice of her location and current health status. This is a stark reminder of the daily violence ICE inflicts of the tens of thousands they detain. We will not stand idly by imagining the worst. We demand transparency for Leqaa and all in detention,” said Travis Fife, Staff Attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. 

“The lack of information about Leqaa’s health, well-being, and location is deeply alarming. We know that ICE detention is deadly – at least 36 people have died in ICE custody since President Trump took office for a second time, including 6 since January 1, 2026. Leqaa should be free, and recovering with her family in New Jersey. Instead, her family and her legal team are left to wonder whether she will be yet another casualty of ICE detention,” said Sarah Sherman-Stokes, supervising attorney with the Boston University School of Law Immigrants Rights Clinic. 

“It should not take 12+ hours and multiple, concerted efforts to simply receive news about whether a loved one or a client in ICE detention is receiving urgent medical attention and why. Family members and counsel deserve more. If ICE hadn’t gone to every length to prevent Ms. Kordia’s release, we would not be in this situation of wondering what is happening with our client,” said Naz Ahmad, co-director of CLEAR. 

“Leqaa’s ordeal is one example of cruelty from an immigration detention system defined by it. The system debilitates, sickens, and even kills the people in its custody. When it hospitalizes you, there’s no telling whether, how, or when your loved ones or lawyers will learn anything about where you are or how you’re doing. Please urge your elected officials to demand immediate disclosure of Leqaa’s whereabouts and health to her loved ones and legal team. Please demand her release, the freedom of everyone confined by this poisoned system, and its defunding and dismantlement,” said Golnaz Fakhimi, legal director of Muslim Advocates.