Urgent Action - USA: Release Detained Protester - Amnesty International Ireland

On 13 March US immigration authorities detained Leqaa Kordia, a 32-year-old Muslim Palestinian woman and US resident who had been arrested at a protest in 2024 against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. She was in the process of obtaining legal residency. The protest-related charges were dropped. In March 2025, she was detained and flown to a facility in Texas after voluntarily meeting with immigration authorities. She has experienced violations of her right to manifest one’s religion while detained. We demand her immediate release and respect of her rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

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Dear Secretary Noem, On 13 March 2025, Leqaa Kordia, a 32-year-old Muslim Palestinian woman, voluntarily met with Department of Homeland Security agents after she learned she was being investigated by immigration authorities. She was immediately detained and transferred from New Jersey to Prairieland Detention Facility in Texas, far from her family. Ms. Kordia was in the process of obtaining legal permanent residency in the USA. She came to the attention of immigration authorities after her arrest at a protest in 2024 outside of Columbia University against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. The charges were later dismissed in the interests of justice. Ms. Kordia’s arrest and ongoing arbitrary detention are a part of the continued attacks on human rights by the Trump administration. The rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are human rights, not grounds for deportation. Targeting peaceful protesters and threatening their immigration status for the content of their protest, such as advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, is a violation of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. This targeting sends a chilling message to people across the country that anyone exercising their human rights will be subject to repression, detention, and possible deportation. For immigrant communities already living in fear throughout the U.S., they are now only further pushed into the shadows with fear that they could be deported for speaking out. No one should be ripped away from their family and sent to detention for exercising their right to protest, and no one should be deported for speaking out for human rights. Leqaa Kordia has suffered violations of her rights to practice her religion while detained in Texas. She poses no threat to the public or flight risk and is a caregiver for family members in New Jersey. She should be released immediately to her family. Sincerely,
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Urgent Action – USA: Release Detained Protester

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