Leqaa Kordia has been jailed for nearly a year, despite a judge twice ordering her release, simply for protesting the genocide that took the lives of nearly 200 of her relatives. A 33-year-old Palestinian woman who has lived in the U.S. for nearly a decade, Leqaa was among hundreds arrested at a Columbia University protest in 2024 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Charges were quickly dropped, but nearly a year later, the Department of Homeland Security targeted Leqaa, spying on her and interrogating her friends and family. Leqaa was detained in March 2025, and she’s been held in a Texas immigration facility ever since.
Leqaa’s plight has not received the attention it deserves, but we are working to change that. Defending Rights & Dissent has led a coalition of rights groups on a joint letter to outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem calling for Leqaa Kordia’s immediate release. As the letter explains,
“Despite an immigration judge ordering her release on bond twice. Leqaa continues to be subjected to unjust immigration confinement and selective immigration enforcement solely because she spoke out in protest of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Find out more about Leqaa Kordia’s unjust detention and the campaign to secure her release at this panel event, hosted by Defending Rights & Dissent in coordination with Leqaa’s legal team.
Panelists include:
- Sadaf Hasan, representing Leqaa in her federal habeas case, with Muslim Advocates
- Sarah Sherman-Stokes, representing Leqaa in her immigration case, with Boston University School of Law’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic
- Hamzah Abushaban, cousin of Leqaa Kordia
Moderator:
- Nathan Fuller, communications manager at Defending Rights & Dissent
Take action: write to your Congressmembers to urge them to join the calls for DHS to release Leqaa!
Watch the event below:
