People participate in a protest outside the Columbia University campus after agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained a student in university housing, in New York City, U.S., February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
A New Jersey activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University in 2024 has finally walked out of a federal detention facility in Texas after languishing behind bars for more than a year despite never being charged with a crime.
Leqaa Kordia, 33, was released Monday from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, following a judge's order. The move came about a month after Kordia claimed she was chained to a hospital bed following a seizure while in custody, alleging the facility was plagued by filthy and inhumane conditions, The New York Times reported.
An immigration judge ordered Kordia's release on $100,000 bond, marking the third time the judge had issued such an order. Federal prosecutors repeatedly appealed those decisions, keeping Kordia locked up despite the rulings.
The Trump administration previously was forced to backpedal on its effort to label Kordia a supporter of Hamas after several failed attempts to convince a judge she posed a threat to national security.
Kordia immigrated to the United States from the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2016 on a student visa. She said she mistakenly allowed her visa to expire in 2022 under a false belief that her mother’s visa petition granted her lawful immigration status.
Kordia was arrested in 2024 while at a protest “to mourn dozens of family members in Palestine” that had been killed by the Israeli military, and briefly faced minor charges related to the protest that were swiftly dropped. She was placed into immigration detention after the Department of Homeland Security alleged she had supported the Palestinian political and military organization Hamas.