TAKE ACTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

FREE LEQAA: DETAINED FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST GENOCIDE

Leqaa Kordia, a 32-year-old Palestinian woman and New Jersey resident, is the only known remaining student campus protester still detained by ICE for her peaceful activism to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza — and we need your help to get her released.

This spring, ICE detained Leqaa, who was in the process of obtaining legal residency. She was sent to a Texas facility far from her family and everything she knows. Her protest-related charges were immediately dropped, yet she remains in detention, where she’s suffered repeated violations of her religious rights as a Muslim woman.

No one should be ripped away from their family, sent to detention, or face deportation for exercising their right to peacefully protest.

Act Now: Call on Secretary Kristi Noem to immediately release Leqaa Kordia — and urge your members of Congress to publicly call for her release.

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Secretary of Homeland Sec

Kristi

Noem

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

To Secretary Noem: 
cc: my members of Congress

I am writing to you as a supporter of human rights on behalf of Amnesty International about Leqaa Kordia. On March 13, 2025, Ms. 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 and immigration attorney.

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. 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.

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,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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