Leqaa Kordia awoke on December 11 to the same nightmare she had been suffering for almost 10 months. Greeted with the stale, sterile smell of Prairieland Detention Center in North Texas on her 33rd birthday, Kordia, who is Muslim, said the day was a solemn one.
“I was sad. I’m a human being, after all. I didn’t want to talk to anybody but [my friends],” Kordia told Mondoweiss. “It should have been a very special day, but I will endure with strength and patience from God, and the support of these women has made it easier.”
The last remaining Columbia University protester left in confinement, Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia, has been in detention since her arrest in March 2025 after accidentally overstaying her student visa.
“I came here as a tourist, and I changed my visa to student visa. And later, after about six years, I received kind of bad advice from a friend,” Kordia said. “Not intentionally, of course. But I dropped out of school thinking that I had lawful status in the United States.”
Since her arrest, an immigration judge has twice ordered her release, deeming her eligible for bail. Despite this, repeated filings with the Board of Immigration Appeals have left Kordia in a state of continuous legal limbo. If deported, Kordia will be turned over to the Israeli government, which has killed almost 200 members of her family during the genocide in Gaza.
Kordia’s experience in detention has reportedly been wrought with pain and hardship. According to her lawyer’s statements and court filings, Kordia has been sleeping on a thin mattress in a facility currently overcrowded while refusing to provide religious accommodations. The filings also say Kordia suffered a skin rash amid unsanitary conditions.
“Being here for one day is bad enough. So imagine the feeling of being here for [9 months],” Kordia said. “No freedom, no justice. It’s just an ugly place to be.”
“It’s my life. It’s everything. And now I’m advocating for my own life as well as the lives of my people”
Leqaa Kordia on what being an advocate for Palestine means to her.
For her birthday, Kordia was gifted a card from her friends in detention with birthday wishes written in several languages, with the intention that she could translate them once she is released. Acclaimed Palestinian writer and activist Laila Al-Haddad, who met Kordia last month after joining her team to handle media and public outreach, spoke to Mondoweiss more on the significance of her birthday.
“In the Islamic tradition, if you die and you go to heaven, you revert back to the age of 33. So whether you were old when you died, whether you were young, that’s thought to be like the perfect or ideal age. Which didn’t even occur to me until she said that [it should have been a special day],” Al-Haddad said.
In continued submissions to the Board of Immigration Appeals, lawyers from the Department of Homeland Security have made repeated arguments to keep Kordia detained, attempting to revoke her bond eligibility through flagging her as a flight risk while disputing claims of civil rights violations. DHS has pointed to Kordia’s protesting and her restitution payments to family members as proof of “support for terrorism” and her legal consultation prior to turning herself in as “abetting law enforcement.” Sarah Sherman-Stokes, a member of Kordia’s legal team and associate director of the Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program at Boston University School of Law, told Mondoweiss that DHS is targeting Kordia for her activism.
“Leqaa Kordia remains confined because she spoke out for Palestinian liberation and called for an end to the genocide. Leqaa is a woman of faith, a beautiful writer with a quick wit, devoted to her family and community. For more than nine months, the government has relied on anti-Palestinian racism and procedural gamesmanship to keep her confined. As the immigration judge determined not once, but twice, Leqaa should be free.”
On December 5, a group of U.S. Senators, including Cory Booker, Nellie Pou, LaMonica McIver, Andy Kim, Chris Van Hollen, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, submitted a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“As the record shows, [Kordia] has broken no laws and has been convicted of no crimes. Her only ‘offenses’ were an honest mistake that caused her to inadvertently lose her legal status and that she participated in a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration to mourn her loved ones and honor their lives,” the letter reads.
“Rather than punishing speech protected by the First Amendment, this Administration should be defending it, particularly when the individual is acting peacefully, has no criminal history and poses no threat to national security or public safety. We urge you to follow the recommendations of both a Magistrate Judge and an Immigration Judge and immediately release Ms. Kordia.”
As Kordia spent her birthday and the holidays in detention, her legal team was hoping for a decision on either her asylum or habeas case, which are both awaiting further action from the court, so that she could be freed in time for family celebrations. As no decision was made, her case currently remains at a standstill.
“Leqaa has marked another holiday and now a birthday in ICE detention, her punishment for daring to speak up in support of Palestinian rights. Her continued detention in the face of two rulings from an immigration judge that she could be released could not be clearer evidence of retaliation. We continue to hope for a swift decision in her habeas. In the meantime, Leqaa and others suffer in an overcrowded facility, deprived of basic dignities,” said Amal Thabateh, another one of Kordia’s lawyers and staff attorney with the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) Project at the City University of New York (CUNY).
Kordia’s case has attracted the attention of activists, journalists, and human rights advocates, earning her story wide coverage following initial apprehension to reach out to the media. Al-Haddad’s approach to public relations influenced the change in strategy.
“Why would it hurt? My personal opinion is that you need to challenge power. That’s why the media exists, to hold power accountable,” Al-Haddad told Mondoweiss. “I feel like with the Trump administration, with bullies like that you have to push back hard.”
Sadaf Hasan, staff attorney from Muslim Advocates and member of Kordia’s legal team, says Kordia “continues to draw strength and resilience from her faith to persist, survive, and advocate for her liberty, the liberty of her people, and all people confined by the for-profit immigration system.”
“Leqaa’s continued confinement nearly ten months after being swept up in the initial wave of McCarthyite repression should ring the alarm for everyone. As the administration doubles down on silencing free speech beyond targeting non-citizens involved in the Palestine solidarity movement, Leqaa’s story makes one thing unmistakably clear: the government will go to any length to squash all dissent and consolidate authoritarian power. We must keep the pressure up: what began as a crackdown on Palestine solidarity has quickly grown into a broader assault on free expression itself – regardless of citizenship status.”
“Leqaa’s story makes one thing unmistakably clear: the government will go to any length to squash all dissent and consolidate authoritarian power. We must keep the pressure up: what began as a crackdown on Palestine solidarity has quickly grown into a broader assault on free expression itself – regardless of citizenship status.”
Sadaf Hasan, staff attorney from Muslim Advocates
Kordia is currently spending her days writing and praying in detention while she awaits progress in either of her cases. In the meantime, the team is focused on strengthening public support.
“We are continuing to push back in federal court against the government’s procedural gamesmanship and political maneuvers to block Leqaa’s release – in collaboration with organizers and policy advocates to build collective power,” said Hasan.
When asked for a comment, DHS provided the same statement given for the last four months, with misspellings of Kordia’s name and grammar mistakes intact:
“On March 13, 2025, HSI Newark arrested Leqaa Kordia, from the West Bank (Palestine), for immigration violations related to overstaying her expired student visa. She violated the terms of her student visa. Previously, in April 2024, Kordia was arrested by local law enforcement for her involvement in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University in New York City. [sic]
“Korida [sic] was also found to be providing financial support to individuals living in nations hostile to the U.S. [sic]
“On August 28, a judge granted Korida [sic] bond. On September 11, DHS filed a stay to the Board of Immigration Appeals to ensure that she is not released from ICE custody during the appeal process.”
Among public supporters, British journalist Sami Hamdi has called for Leqaa Kordia’s release, providing insight into his own detention after being arrested in California at the end of 2025. Recently, along with others, including Al-Haddad and Imam Todd Facchine, Hamdi spoke at a press event for Kordia held at Port Coffee in Irving, Texas, emphasizing the need for public support.
“What made [ICE] ease their cruelty toward me… was not anything I did in that facility, it had everything to do with what [my supporters] did outside the facility… raising your voices,” Hamdi said.
Hamdi explained that during his stay in detention, a fellow detainee told him, “God does not exist within these walls.” When asked for her opinion on this sentiment, Kordia told Mondoweiss:
“God is everywhere, Alhamdulillah, but I hear this sentiment a lot here,” Kordia said. “God is always with me, and I trust his plans… that kind of faith, that belief keeps me going.
Thanks very much for posting this story and for your work Mr. Judy and Mondoweiss.
I found it a very touching story. I like and agree with her point when she said, “God is everywhere, … God is always with me, and I trust his plans… that kind of faith, that belief keeps me going.”
Amnesty International has a form letter that people can print out or email to on her behalf.