ALVARADO, Texas — A Palestinian woman who had been the last person held in immigration detention after the Trump administration’s 2025 crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism was freed Monday after a year in custody.
Leqaa Kordia, 33, from the West Bank who has lived in New Jersey since 2016, was detained in a U.S. immigration facility in Texas after reporting to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey on March 13, 2025. Her detention was tied in part to her participation in a 2024 protest outside Columbia University. Kordia said she joined the demonstration after Israel killed scores of her relatives in Gaza.
Kordia emerged from the Prairieland Detention Center, south of Dallas, beaming. “I don’t know what to say. I’m free! I’m free! Finally, after one year,” she told reporters. She said she was eager to go home and hug her mother, and pledged to keep advocating for others still detained. “There is a lot of injustice in this place,” she said.
An immigration judge ordered her release on bond three times; the government challenged the first two rulings but did not challenge the third. Kordia was released on a $100,000 bond.
Federal officials accused Kordia of overstaying her visa and scrutinized payments she sent to relatives in the Middle East. Kordia said the money was to help family suffering during the war. An immigration judge said there was “overwhelming evidence” that Kordia was truthful about the payments.
The Department of Homeland Security previously criticized Kordia for allegedly “providing financial support to individuals living in nations hostile to the U.S.” In a statement Monday night the department reiterated that Kordia violated the terms of her visa and said the administration would continue to enforce immigration laws.
Kordia’s arrest and year in detention drew less public attention than cases involving students and scholars because she was not affiliated with a university group that might have provided support. Others arrested during the broader enforcement campaign included Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia graduate student held three months in Louisiana before release, and Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts student detained for six weeks. One Columbia doctoral student fled the U.S. after her visa was revoked and immigration agents visited her apartment.
Kordia was among about 100 people arrested by New York City police at the Columbia demonstration; charges against her at that protest were later dismissed and sealed. She says the NYPD provided information about her arrest to the Trump administration after being told the records were needed for a money-laundering probe.
Kordia was hospitalized for three days after a seizure following a fainting episode in detention. At a hearing Friday, her attorneys said she has a neurological condition that worsened while in custody, increasing her risk of seizure; they also said she could live with U.S. citizen family and posed no flight risk. Immigration Judge Tara Naslow, who presided over the case, cited extensive evidence presented by Kordia and limited evidence from the government in agreeing to release her.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he asked President Donald Trump for Kordia’s release when they met last month. “I am grateful that Leqaa has been released this evening from ICE custody after more than a year in detention for speaking up for Palestinian rights,” Mamdani posted on X.