Demand ICE Disclose Location and Condition of Hospitalized Detainee Leqaa Kordia

I am writing to demand immediate action regarding Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman from Paterson, New Jersey, who has been held in ICE detention for nearly 11 months and was recently hospitalized following a medical emergency. ICE has refused to inform her family or legal counsel of her location or medical condition, denying her the most basic right to support during a health crisis. Leqaa was detained in March 2024 during a voluntary check-in with immigration officials, despite posing no flight or safety risk and while actively pursuing legal residency. She was transferred far from her family and attorney to Prairieland Detention Facility in Texas, a facility with a documented history of human rights violations. In her own words, Leqaa described the conditions: "No freedom, no justice. It's just an ugly place to be." The circumstances of her detention raise serious concerns about First Amendment protections. Leqaa appears to have been targeted for speaking out against U.S. government support for Israel's actions in Gaza, where 175 members of her family have been killed since October 2023. Detaining someone for exercising their right to political speech violates fundamental constitutional principles. Now, following a medical emergency serious enough to require hospitalization, ICE is withholding basic information from her family and legal team. This lack of transparency is unconscionable and potentially life-threatening. Her family deserves to know where their daughter is and what medical care she is receiving. I urge you to immediately contact ICE leadership and demand they disclose Leqaa Kordia's current location and medical condition to her family and legal counsel. Her family must be allowed to provide support during this critical time. Additionally, I ask that you advocate for her release from detention, as she poses no danger and has been held without justification for nearly a year while pursuing lawful immigration status.