Who is Leqaa Kordia, the Columbia protester still in ICE detention?

Al JazeeraCenterEN 5 min read 100% complete by Yashraj SharmaFebruary 8, 2026 at 05:10 PM

AI Summary

long article 5 min

Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman, has been hospitalized after a seizure while in ICE detention in Texas. Kordia has been in ICE custody since March 2025, following her participation in pro-Palestine protests near Columbia University in New York in 2024. While the government claims her detention is due to an expired student visa, her legal team alleges she was targeted for protesting against Israel's war in Gaza. Kordia, who came to the US in 2016, had a green card application approved in 2021 but her student visa expired in 2022 due to misinformation. Her lawyers and family have been unable to contact her since her hospitalization.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Paterson, New Jersey 30% Ramallah 30% West Bank 40% New York ×250% Donald Trump 50% Gaza 50% Israel ×260% Columbia University ×260% Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 70% United States ×370% Leqaa Kordia ×6100%

Keywords

leqaa kordia 100% ice detention 90% palestinian 80% pro-palestine protests 70% immigration and customs enforcement 60% student visa 60% israel-palestine conflict 50% gaza 50% genocide 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.40

Source Transparency

Source

Al Jazeera

Political Lean

Center (0.00)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

United States

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

leqaa kordia ice detention palestinian pro-palestine protests immigration and customs enforcement student visa israel-palestine conflict gaza genocide

Explore Full Topic Graph