'I was moved around like cattle,' says stateless Palestinian woman detained by ICE

US immigration agency held Ward Sakeik, who has lived in the country since she was eight, for four months

Ward Sakeik was detained at Miami airport as she returned from her honeymoon in February. Photo: Council on American-Islamic Relations

A stateless Palestinian woman who grew up in the US was released this week from American immigration detention after four months in custody.

Ward Sakeik, 22, a resident of Texas whose family is originally from Gaza, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when she returned from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands in February.

“I was criminalised for being stateless, something that I absolutely have no control over,” she said at a press conference after her release on Thursday. “I didn’t choose to be stateless … I had no choice.

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“I’ve been a resident of the United States since I was eight years old. I went to college, I run a successful wedding photography business here in [Dallas-Fort Worth], and I recently married Taahir [Shaikh],” she said.

Stateless Palestinian Ward Sakeik and her husband Taahir Shaikh. Photo: Council on American-Islamic Relations

“My family did come here in 2011 seeking asylum, and we have followed all immigration policies and have complied with every single thing, every single document, every single piece of paper, every single thing that was thrown at us,” she said.

According to media reports, the family came to the US from Saudi Arabia, where Ms Sakeik was born. They were denied asylum but were allowed to remain in Texas as long as they reported every year to immigration authorities.

Ms Sakeik said she was already in the process of obtaining a Green Card for permanent residency when she was arrested at Miami airport.

“I was handcuffed for 16 hours without any water or food on the bus,” said Ms Sakeik, who owns a home in Texas. She said she was not given the option to call a lawyer or her husband.

“We were not given water or food, and we would smell the driver eating. We would ask for water, bang on the door for food, and he would just turn up the radio and act like he wasn’t listening to us.”

She said immigration officials attempted to deport her twice. She was taken to the airport and told she was being deported to “the border with Israel” on June 12, hours before the start of the Israel-Iran war that disrupted air travel in the region.

Her lawyers said immigration officials prepared to deport her again on June 30, despite a judge's order barring her removal.

Ms Sakeik said she was “moved around like cattle. The US government tried to dump me in a part of the world where I had no idea where I was going, what I was doing.”

The Department of Homeland Security said Ms Sakeik was flagged because she “chose to fly over international waters and outside the US customs zone and was then flagged by CBP [Customs and Border Protection] trying to re-enter the continental US”.

“The facts are: she is in our country illegally. She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.