British Commentator Returns After U.S. Detention

British political commentator Sami Hamdi returned to London on Thursday after more than two weeks in U.S. immigration detention, describing his ordeal as a broader threat to free speech amid the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Hamdi, 35, the managing director of The International Interest, a political risk consultancy, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at San Francisco International Airport on October 26. He had arrived in the U.S. on October 19 on a valid visitor visa for a speaking tour criticizing U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza. Officials informed him at the airport that his visa had been revoked two days earlier, without prior notice or explanation. The only formal allegation against him was overstaying the visa, according to his legal team.

Escorted in handcuffs to a processing center and then driven two hours to the Golden State Annex in McFarland, California—a privately run facility operated by The GEO Group that holds up to 2,560 people—Hamdi was placed in a large hall with about 90 other detainees facing deportation. He slept on bunk beds in the overcrowded space, which lacked sufficient pillows and blankets. Detainees...