A Palestinian woman detained for a year after protesting the war in Gaza describes her experience

Jeff Bennett:

In 2024, massive pro-Palestinian protests swept through college campuses across the country, including Columbia University.

As the Trump administration ramps up its immigration enforcement and deportation efforts, many noncitizen student protesters have been transferred to ICE detention centers. One of them was detained for more than a year.

Lisa Desjardins has more.

Lisa Desjardins:

Liqaa Kordia arrived in the United States in 2016 on a tourist visa from the West Bank to reunite with her mother, an American citizen living in New Jersey. She enrolled in English school, began working as a waitress, and applied for a green card in 2017 through a family petition.

But this request did not give her legal status to remain in the country, and she says she unknowingly became undocumented. In 2024, Cordia participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. She was arrested but not charged.

She was then detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement about a year later. She was detained in Alvarado, Texas, from last spring until last March, when immigration courts will decide her fate.

Meet her attorney, Sarah Sherman Stokes, joining us now.

Thank you both.

Meet, I came here 10 years ago. Your visa expires in 2022. But I want to start with your hopes. You are hoping to get a green card. First tell us, why do you want to become a US citizen?

Cordia meeting:

Well, I ran out of an occupied country. I grew up in fear all the time.

I grew up separated from my mother all these years. I always say that I never truly experienced freedom until I came to the United States.

Lisa Desjardins:

You have been detained for a year. We have some videos of when you were released. And in this video, you can see your feelings. You can see your relief from that day. What was it like to be in detention?

Cordia meeting:

First, we were crowded. So, if you want to sleep, like, for example, I slept on the floor for three months surrounded by cockroaches and bugs and all that.

As for food, it’s literally inedible.

Lisa Desjardins:

Can you talk about health care there and the impact of detention on you now?

Cordia meeting:

So health care there is close to zero. My fever was so bad that I literally felt like I was going to die tonight, I was saying my prayers. I was asking God for forgiveness, and a few days later I had my first ever seizure.

Doctors said this was due to lack of proper nutrition, lack of sleep and constant stress. Now I have been diagnosed with epilepsy after having a second seizure on April 30th. I can’t drive. I can’t swim alone. I can’t hike alone.

A lot of things that used to make me feel free, now I can’t do them. Now I have to stick to a specific diet and take heavy anti-seizure medications every day. The government, ICE have literally ruined my health.

Lisa Desjardins:

You mentioned prayer. Clearly leaving detention has changed him. What was it like trying to practice your faith while in detention?

Cordia meeting:

My religious rights have been violated many times. My simple basic religious rights, such as eating halal foods, such as having a clean, quiet place to pray and perform prayers. They have all been violated. I did not find the Holy Quran.

I didn’t find anything. They did not have a hijab for girls who wanted to pray, but did not wear a hijab. I have been asking about the hijab for 15 days.

Lisa Desjardins:

Your arrest and release made headlines in part because you were an outspoken protester.

DHS gave us this statement about you, and they said they said you were detained because your visa had expired.

But they continued, writing: “Previously, in April of 2024, Cordia was arrested by local law enforcement for her involvement in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University in New York City. She was also found to be providing financial support to individuals living in countries hostile to the United States. The facts of this case have not changed. Cordia is in the country illegally.”

Now, no charges have been filed against you for protesting or financial support.

I want to ask your lawyer, Sarah, how do you respond to the DHS statement, including the idea that it was supporting Hamas?

Sarah Sherman Stokes, Cordia Encounter Attorney:

The government has had more than a year to provide any kind of evidence that would support these kinds of false and frankly dangerous allegations, and it has failed to do so.

In the past, she used to give money to her beloved family members. Many migrants send remittances to family members abroad, just as Liqaa did. Liqaa was not punished because she overstayed her visa. The government punished Liqaa because she spoke publicly about her support for Palestine.

Lisa Desjardins:

Sarah, can I ask what evidence you have that she was targeted because she is Palestinian?

Sarah Sherman Stokes:

Because that’s what the government said. They have made these false claims, false and unsubstantiated claims that they are – I quote – “pro-Hamas.” There is no evidence at all. They completely abandoned those arguments in court.

They like them in press releases because they get a lot of attention. But in court, the government presented no evidence at all to support this assertion.

Lisa Desjardins:

Meeting, you are now out on a $100,000 bond. This is a very large amount to ask for. What is your response to the Department of Homeland Security and the way they say you deserve to be deported?

Cordia meeting:

I mean, to be imprisoned for a whole year just for exercising my freedom of expression and to be accused of horrific things that I had nothing to do with, it’s outrageous.

Lisa Desjardins:

You are still here in an undocumented state. There are many Americans who would say that you should have left, and if you want a green card, apply for a green card abroad. Why should you be allowed to stay?

Cordia meeting:

Simply because if I return, there is a high possibility that I will be imprisoned, or even killed in Palestine or so-called Israel, where they want to deport me, in fact.

There is a great danger to my life. Really afraid of the idea.

Lisa Desjardins:

Because you are a protester here or why?

Cordia meeting:

Because I am a protester, because I am frank, and because I am Palestinian.

Lisa Desjardins:

And Sarah?

Sarah Sherman Stokes:

So, in effect, the immigration judge held that the Israeli government would likely persecute Encounter if she were deported to Israel, which is where the government wanted to deport her.

Lisa Desjardins:

And one last question for me.

Meeting, you have become very close to many of your fellow detainees, some of whom are still in detention. What do you want to tell them?

Cordia meeting:

Stay strong, stay optimistic. We have not forgotten you. Keep fighting. Keep dreaming. You didn’t do anything wrong. Everything I did was just a dream. Dreaming should not be a crime.

Lisa Desjardins:

Meeting Cordia and Sarah Sherman Stokes, thank you both so much for your time today.

Cordia meeting:

Thank you.

(crosstalk)

Sarah Sherman Stokes:

Thank you very much for having us.