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We speak with Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia, who was freed on March 16 after spending more than a year in an ICE jail in Texas. She was arrested in 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to target student activists and others who advocated for Palestinian rights.

Kordia was born in the occupied West Bank and lives in New Jersey. She was arrested in 2024 during the Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University. The charges against her were dropped the next day, but she was detained in March 2025 by ICE during a routine immigration check-in. “It was supposed to be just a regular meeting with my lawyer [and the] ICE agents. It led to arrest,” says Kordia. “They took me in an unmarked car directly to the airport, and they had informed my lawyer that I’m going to upstate New York, but they took me to Texas instead.”

While in custody, Kordia experienced destitute conditions at the Prairieland Detention Center, including overcrowding, inedible food, inadequate medical care, broken facilities, negligence by guards and more. “The detention center conditions and the ICE agents’ methods brought to my mind a lot of bad memories from the West Bank,” she says.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

The Fight to Defend Pro-Palestine Speech on Campus Isn’t Over

We end today’s show with Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia. She was recently freed after spending a year in an ICE jail in Texas, arrested in March of last year as part of the Trump administration’s campaign targeting activists and others who advocated for Palestinian rights. Leqaa Kordia grew up in the occupied West Bank, now lives in New Jersey. She says Israeli forces have killed more than two members of her extended — 200 members of her extended family in Gaza.

In April 2024, Leqaa was arrested during a Gaza solidarity protest at Columbia University. The charges were dropped the following day. But in March of last year, Leqaa was detained after meeting with immigration officials in New Jersey voluntarily. Her arrest came less than a week after federal immigration agents arrested the Columbia student protester organizer Mahmoud Khalil. He was jailed for 104 days. Leqaa Kordia is believed to have been the last person held in detention from the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists. While in custody, she was hospitalized in February following her first seizure. In mid-March, she was freed after a judge ordered her release on $100,000 bond.

Leqaa Kordia joins us now in our studio.

Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s quite something to see you across the table. We’ve reported on you for so long. Leqaa, how are you feeling? How are you doing right now? A year in an ICE jail, we’d like you to describe your experience and how you were first taken.

LEQAA KORDIA: First of all, thank you very much for having me. It’s such an honor to be........

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