33-year-old Palestinian woman details inhumane conditions of detention and hospitalization after medical emergency and return to ICE facility

DALLAS, TX – After several days of family and counsel searching for her whereabouts, Leqaa Kordia was discharged from hospitalization and returned to immigration confinement at Prairieland Detention Facility in North Texas, where she has been held for nearly a year in retaliation for speaking out for Palestinian rights. Her experiences while receiving medical treatment were plagued by the involvement of immigration officers. The following statement is attributed to Leqaa Kordia:

“On February 6th, I woke up in the Prairieland Detention Facility’s medical unit terrified and confused after having experienced the first seizure of my life. Not until enduring nearly a year of cruel confinement in inhumane conditions had I ever suffered one before. All I felt was fear, not knowing what was happening to me. Witnesses told me that I fell down twice after going to the bathroom. My head opened the door with the first fall. After the second fall, I started to twitch, experiencing a seizure. They tell me I asked for my hijab to cover myself. I was dizzy, nauseous, and in pain as an ambulance drove me to the hospital. 

The entire time I was chained. For three days in the emergency room, my hands and legs were weighed down by heavy chains as they drew my blood and gave me medications. It was terrifying. I felt like an animal. My hands are still full of marks from the heavy metal. They even refused to remove the chains when I went to the bathroom or took a shower. On the third day, I asked the lieutenant, “Why am I chained like this?” Her response was “because I said so.”

The only difference between the food at Prairieland and the food at the hospital was a bit of fruit. Otherwise, it was difficult to eat or keep any food down. 

My experience at the hospital was dehumanizing from start to finish. While I believe the nurses and doctors did their best, the guards didn’t treat me like a human being. They wouldn’t let me speak to my family. When one of my attorneys came to see me, they refused to let them in. I worried that if something happened to me, no one would know.

 The hospital told me I was more prone to seizures because of poor sleep, inadequate nutrition, and stress. The doctor advised me to reduce my stress and eat food to avoid a future seizure. I don’t know how I can do that while I’m confined. At Prairieland, your daily life — whether you can have access to the food or medicine you need or even a good night’s sleep — is controlled by the private, for-profit business that runs this facility. I’ve been here for 11 months, and the food is so bad it makes me sick. We live in filthy conditions. The best medicine for me and everyone else here is our freedom. 

ICE detention facilities are built to break people and destroy their health and hope. I want everyone to know what happened to me because the same things are happening to other women who are locked up here. There are women who have terminal cancer, disabled women, pregnant women. They are all suffering, and none of us deserves to be here. No one deserves this.

The only reason ICE targeted me in the first place is because I protested against the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza. Even now, U.S.-made bombs continue to destroy Palestinian homes and kill Palestinian families. Whether it is my family in Palestine, or the other women unjustly confined by ICE alongside me, I will continue to use my voice to speak up for the freedom and dignity of others.”   

– Leqaa Kordia