Last detained Columbia protester held at ICE facility just south of Fort Worth
A group of Democratic Texas legislators is demanding the release of a Palestinian woman who has been in ICE custody since March, when she was arrested almost a year after a Columbia University protest.
Leqaa Kordia, 33, is the last of the Palestinian protestors at Columbia who is still being held in an ICE facility. She is being held at the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, about 1,500 miles from her home in Paterson, N.J.
On Tuesday, a group of 34 Democratic state legislators sent a joint letter to Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, asking for Kordia’s release. Five of those lawmakers held a press conference Friday at the Alvarado detention facility with Kordia’s cousin and her attorney to demand her release after they were denied entry to visit her.
Born and raised in the Palestinian territories, Kordia grew up surrounded by tear gas and had a gun pointed at her head when she was 9, her supporters said. The one thing that gave her hope in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was the thousands of protests happening in distant nations raising awareness, they said.
After moving to the United States in 2016 on a visa, Kordia had recently obtained a green card and took odd jobs to help support her mom and younger brother with special needs. Roughly 200 of her relatives died in the Israel-Gaza War. They are among the 71,000 Palestinians dead, according to an estimated death toll by the Gaza Health Ministry.
Despite not being a student, Kordia felt it necessary that she attend one of the many pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia’s campus. At that April 2024 protest, her cousin Hamzah Abushaban said Kordia was arrested for about three minutes and then released.
Arrested by ICE nearly a year after the protest
In March 2025, five ICE agents showed up on Abushaban’s doorstep in Florida to find out where Kordia was. Kordia voluntarily went to the ICE headquarters in Newark, N.J., expecting routine immigration questions.
That day, March 13, 2025, Kordia was put into an unmarked van and transported to Prairieland Detention Facility, where she has been housed since.
Immigration judges have granted bond, but she remains in custody because of a stay triggered by an immediate appeal by the Department of Homeland Security to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Travis Fife, a Texas Civil Rights Project attorney on Kordia’s legal team, said the Department of Homeland Security has admitted in court that she is not a threat and would be safe to release.
“Actual criminals who commit real crimes with pure evidence get released on bonds, but not an innocent protester,” Abushaban said. “So her only true crime that she committed is being Palestinian and speaking on behalf of Palestine through form of protest, which is protected under her constitutional right.”
Facility living conditions
Abushaban talks to her on the phone at least four or five times a week from Florida through an app that costs 34 cents per text or minute of calling. Since she was detained, Kordia’s faith has grown immensely, but her physical health has deteriorated, her cousin said.
“She’s sick almost every other day, like she was on the phone right now,” Abushaban said. “She’s sick because everyone’s immune systems are reactive to the fuel that we give it, and the fuel that’s in there for her to consume every day is almost non-existent. She’s living off of chips and crackers and snacks, like there’s no real food for her to eat.”
As a Muslim woman, Kordia believes in maintaining sanctity in her body. One example is to dress modestly, covering most of her skin. Not only does the detention center refuse to meet the religious need, but officers denied donations from outside groups who tried to provide such attire, her lawyer said.
Another part of that practice is to only eat “halal,” which means the food must adhere to ethical rules in alignment with the Islamic beliefs.
Specifically packaged kosher food is provided at Prairieland, which means Jewish detainees have the proper food that adheres with their religious laws. Instead of meeting Kordia’s requests for the same treatment, detention center officers used a marker to write over the “kosher” label with the word “halal,” Fife said.
Beyond her religious needs, Kordia’s basic human needs are not being met inside the Prairieland Detention Facility, which is operated by LaSalle Corrections. She gets whatever sleep she can on a thin mat on the floor while cockroaches and other insects skitter past, Fife said.
Because her nutrition is inadequate, Kordia frequently experiences bouts of nausea and dizziness. Yet she still considers herself one of the lucky ones, she wrote in an op-ed in USA Today.
Visitation refused
For state Rep. Salman Bhojani, a Euless Democrat, Kordia’s story is very personal. He was Texas’ first Muslim and the first South Asian legislator to be elected, and he says he fights for religious freedom every day.
“Maybe 20 years ago, when I wasn’t a citizen, I could be targeted like that,” Bhojani said on the drive down to Prairieland early Friday morning. “And even right now, even if I’m a citizen, ICE could target me today, right in this detention facility. We may go and they may detain me. I don’t know, right?”
When he left his house, Bhojani was hopeful to meet with Kordia in a scheduled visit at the detention center. He said before going, he gave extra tight hugs to his wife and mom, who packed him fresh-cut fruit for the drive.
“Our constitutional rights are being taken advantage of at such a big level that my staff is and my wife is now really concerned about my safety,” he said. “And I’m like, I’m elected. If it’s happening to me, man, it can happen to anybody that is not in any level of any government, or doesn’t have any contacts, and most people don’t know their rights.”
When Bhojani arrived at the detention center, email proof of the approved meeting in hand, he learned that Prairieland was refusing all visitors due to the press conference that would happen two hours from his scheduled visit.
At about 7:35 a.m., Kordia called Fife, who had planned to be in the meeting with Bhojani. She said the detention officers said 200 protesters were going to be outside. The press conference brought out 28 people, all of whom were either media or designated speakers and their staff.
Abushaban had also flown in from Florida to see her for the first time since visiting in person when she was detained in March.
Legislators demand Leqaa Kordia’s release
For Bhojani, the visit was about checking on Kordia’s safety, health and living conditions. He wanted to understand more about ICE detainees’ experiences.
“Our visit today is not a reaction to ICE’s conduct around the country, though I’m very upset, just like other Americans are at in children in handcuffs, families separated and detained, and Americans and non-citizens alike deprived of their fundamental rights in this country,” Bhojani said at the press conference Friday.
There are two different Americas right now, Bhojani said. The one immigrants like him and Kordia dreamt of and fell in love with and the one they are facing today wrought with unlawful detainment and abuse of power.
Joined by four other state legislators at the press conference, Bhojani demanded transparency and accountability from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
“What Leqaa is enduring should never be requested for anybody in this country,” Bhojani said. “This is not complicated. This is about basic human dignity, and right now that dignity is being denied deliberately, repeatedly and in plain sight. We will not accept this. We will not normalize this.”
