Palestinian detainee returned to federal immigration custody after medical emergency; family demand answers
Leqaa Kordia discharged from hospital after seizure, held incommunicado for 3 days as attorneys denied access despite immigration case deadline
ISTANBUL
Family members and legal representatives are demanding answers after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) returned a 33-year-old Palestinian Muslim woman to detention following a medical emergency that left her hospitalized for more than 72 hours without contact with relatives or attorneys.
"While we are relieved Leqaa is out of the hospital, we still have no idea what her medical condition is and what happened to her the past 3 days,” Hamzah Abushaban, Leqaa Kordia's cousin and designated spokesperson, said in a statement Monday by Kordia’s legal representatives. “It has never been more urgent to call for her release.”
Kordia was discharged and returned to ICE detention after being hospitalized following a seizure, according to her legal representatives. Neither her family nor counsel saw her, heard her voice or received information about her health status during the three days she remained hospitalized, according to the statement.
"Not knowing what hospital she was in, or what condition she was in has been agonizing. Like any other family, we were worried sick," said Kordia's mother.
When one counsel rushed to the hospital after her legal team learned Kordia's location from a journalist, authorities denied access to Kordia even by phone. Her immigration attorney was also refused contact despite repeated written requests and a looming deadline in her case, said the statement.
ICE has been confining Kordia at the Prairieland Detention Facility in the state of Texas for nearly a year, according to her representatives. While in custody, she has experienced dizziness, fainting episodes and other signs of poor nutrition, according to her attorneys.
Travis Fife, staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said ICE demonstrated "inhumane cruelty" by disconnecting Kordia from loved ones and legal representatives during an "extremely critical time, all while risking her health and safety."
Kordia is the last Columbia University protester still in immigration confinement. Though not a student, she participated in protests after Israel killed more than 100 of her family members in the Gaza Strip.
