Lawyers for a New Jersey Palestinian woman arrested at a Columbia University anti-war protest last year asked a federal judge Thursday to release her from immigration detention in North Texas.
Attorneys for Leqaa Kordia argued her detainment is unconstitutional, violating her First and Fifth Amendment rights to speech and due process, respectively. Travis Fife, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of the legal advocacy groups helping challenge Kordia's detention, said she's being detained for her pro-Palestinian views.
"Our client has been retaliated against for her protected speech," Fife argued in federal court Thursday, telling federal Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford that Kordia was being punished, "all because the most powerful man in the country disagreed with her protected expression," referring to President Donald Trump.
Kordia was allowed to listen in to the hearing remotely, but her attorneys say they were not let in to the Prairieland facility to communicate with her or offer legal advice. KERA News reached out to ICE and will update this story with any response.
Kordia, a 32-year-old born in the West Bank and living in Paterson, New Jersey, came to the United States in 2016 on a tourist visa. New York police officers arrested Kordia at a pro-Palestinian Columbia University protest against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Police cited her with disorderly conduct, but the charge was dismissed.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Kordia in March after interviewing her for allegedly overstaying her visa. She was flown to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, about 37 miles southwest of Dallas, and remains there.
Attorneys for Kordia, who's Muslim, also said she's been unconstitutionally denied the ability to pray and receive halal meals according to her faith.
The Department of Homeland Security arrested Kordia because she overstayed her expired F-1 student visa, the department said in a news release the day of her arrest. Her visa was terminated because of "lack of attendance," the department said.
But according to Kordia's court filings, she withdrew from the student visa program in 2022 at her teacher's "erroneous" advice. Kordia studied English for seven years at Uceda Paterson and Bergen County Career Advancement Training under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, according to court documents.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the downtown Dallas courthouse demanding Kordia's release.
"Leqaa's imprisonment is meant to send a chilling message to every Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and person of conscience who dares to raise their voice," said Sumayyah El-Heet, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in Dallas. "This is not about immigration law, this is about criminalizing those who dare to speak out against US-backed genocide. We will not let Leqaa be disappeared in silence."
Kordia is at least the second pro-Palestinian protester at Columbia facing attempted deportation proceedings under President Donald Trump's administration. Immigration agents arrested her days after the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student also detained after his participation in the campus protests last spring.
A judge ruled last week the proceedings against Khalil were likely unconstitutional but declined to order Khalil's release from federal immigration detention in Louisiana.
Like Khalil, DHS accused Kordia of "anti-American, pro-terrorist activities on campus" but said "her arrest had nothing to do with her radical activities." But Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have both vowed to review the visa statuses of pro-Palestinian protestors and deport those they can.
An attorney for DHS declined to comment and referred KERA to the agency's press office. This story will be updated with any response.
Additionally, DHS said Wednesday federal immigration officials are ramping up their review of immigration records and will crack down on visa overstays. The announcement came in the wake of authorities arresting 45-year-old Mohammed Sabry Solima for allegedly setting at least eight people on fire in Boulder, Colorado during a demonstration in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Solima, originally from Egypt, allegedly overstayed his visa since 2022, DHS said.
"There is NO room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. "Anyone who thinks they can come to America and advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here. We will find you, deport you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
It's not clear when a judge will rule in Kordia's case. Her next immigration hearing is July 24.
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