Leqaa Kordia Released After Year in Immigration Detention

Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman from the West Bank who has lived in New Jersey since 2016, walked free on Monday after spending a year in immigration detention in Texas, becoming the last person released from the Trump administration's 2025 crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.

Kordia emerged from the Prairieland Detention Center south of Dallas with a beaming smile, telling reporters, "I don't know what to say. I'm free! I'm free! Finally, after one year." She was released on a $100,000 bond following a third order from an immigration judge, which the government did not challenge after appealing the previous two rulings. Her detention began on March 13, 2025, during a routine check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey, where agents took her into custody and flew her to the privately run facility.

Kordia's arrest stemmed from her participation in 2024 protests outside Columbia University in New York, where she was among roughly 100 people detained during demonstrations against Israel's military actions in Gaza. She joined the protests after relatives in Gaza were killed in the conflict, where she maintains close family ties. "My way of...