Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian lady detained by immigration authorities for over a year after she was arrested at a protest at Columbia University amid Israel’s warfare in Gaza in 2024, has been released from custody, based on her authorized crew.
Kordia, who the Department of Homeland Security says was detained for overstaying her pupil visa, seems to be the final in a wave of scholars and lecturers nonetheless held by immigration authorities after being concerned in protests or advocacy associated to Israel’s navy marketing campaign in Gaza, her legal professionals say.
Immigration authorities detained the 33-year-old on March 13, 2025 – a week after Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was arrested – and he or she has been held on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, ever since, based on her authorized crew.
An immigration decide ordered her launch on bond on Friday, her legal professionals stated. It’s the third time a decide has ordered her released. In the earlier situations, DHS ordered an computerized keep, conserving her in confinement, based on her legal professionals.
She and her legal professionals have stated she was focused after attending a protest at Columbia “opposing military violence and supporting Palestinian rights” the place she was arrested by native police. All prices in opposition to her have been dropped “in the interest of justice,” her legal professionals stated in a habeas corpus petition filed final year calling for her launch.
Kordia said earlier this year “the only reason ICE targeted me in the first place is because I protested against the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza.” A White House spokesperson referred to as the claims “categorically false” and stated the administration “is enforcing federal immigration law.”
In a assertion to CNN, DHS additionally claimed that Kordia was arrested by the New York Police Department in what it referred to as her involvement in “pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University” – a protest characterization her attorneys refute – and stated she “was also found to be providing financial support to individuals living in nations hostile to the U.S.”
Kordia’s legal professionals stated the protest at Columbia was “peaceful and nonviolent” and denied Kordia had supported Hamas.
Her legal professionals say the monetary assist refers to funds she despatched to Palestinian relations, together with funds to relations who misplaced houses and companies in Israeli airstrikes. DHS didn’t reply to questions on which nations are thought-about hostile to the US or whether or not these funds represent a crime.
This is a growing story and shall be up to date.
