Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian girl detained by immigration authorities for over a year after she was arrested at a protest at Columbia University amid Israel’s struggle in Gaza in 2024, has been released from custody, in line with her authorized workforce.
Kordia, who the Department of Homeland Security says was detained for overstaying her scholar visa, seems to be the final in a wave of scholars and lecturers nonetheless held by immigration authorities after being concerned in protests or advocacy associated to Israel’s navy marketing campaign in Gaza, her attorneys say.
Immigration authorities detained the 33-year-old on March 13, 2025 – a week after Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was arrested – and she or he has been held on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, ever since, in line with her authorized workforce.
An immigration choose ordered her launch on bond on Friday, her attorneys stated. It’s the third time a choose has ordered her released. In the earlier cases, DHS ordered an computerized keep, holding her in confinement, in line with her attorneys.
She and her attorneys have stated she was focused after attending a protest at Columbia “opposing military violence and supporting Palestinian rights” the place she was arrested by native police. All costs towards her had been dropped “in the interest of justice,” her attorneys stated in a habeas corpus petition filed final year calling for her launch.
Kordia said earlier this year “the only reason ICE targeted me in the first place is because I protested against the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza.” A White House spokesperson known as the claims “categorically false” and stated the administration “is enforcing federal immigration law.”
In a assertion to NCS, DHS additionally claimed that Kordia was arrested by the New York Police Department in what it known as her involvement in “pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University” – a protest characterization her attorneys refute – and stated she “was also found to be providing financial support to individuals living in nations hostile to the U.S.”
Kordia’s attorneys stated the protest at Columbia was “peaceful and nonviolent” and denied Kordia had supported Hamas.
Her attorneys say the monetary help refers to funds she despatched to Palestinian relations, together with funds to relations who misplaced houses and companies in Israeli airstrikes. DHS didn’t reply to questions on which nations are thought of hostile to the US or whether or not these funds represent a crime.
This is a creating story and can be up to date.