PATERSON, NEW JERSEY — Leqaa Kordia was released on bond from the Prairieland detention center in Alvarado, Texas, on March 16, 2024, after an immigration judge for the third time ruled that she posed no threat and ordered her release. Kordia had spent one year at the facility.

Kordia had been arrested in April 2024 at a pro-Palestinian protest outside Columbia University along with dozens of others, though the charges against her were dropped the following day. She has been living in the United States for nearly a decade after leaving the West Bank to reunite with her mother, a U.S. citizen, and has a pending green card application through her mother and no criminal record.

During her time in detention, Kordia was hospitalized on Feb. 6, 2024, after experiencing a seizure. Her family learned of the hospitalization from a fellow detainee after spending three days trying to get Immigration and Customs Enforcement to disclose her location. When she collapsed, a fellow detainee insisted that guards take her hijab with her to the hospital.

Kordia said she slept for weeks on a paper-thin mattress on the floor due to overcrowding. The facility was kept cold, with guards saying the temperature was maintained to protect detainees from germs. Women who asked for water during intake processing were directed to a water fountain attached to a toilet seat, and drinking water sometimes had things swimming in it. Meals were served at 4 a.m., 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and were described by detainees as uneatable, referred to as "dog food." Detainees who refused food risked being placed on suicide watch in isolation.

Kordia said guards referred to detainees not by name but as "subject" or by number. "They don't call you by name, they call you 'subject', or by number," she said. She also recounted that when showers broke down, guards responded by saying, "It is what it is."

According to Kordia, guards ignored detainees when they asked for help, told them to "shut up" and frequently laughed at them. Pregnant, sick and elderly women held at the center had their requests for help dismissed. Women experienced panic attacks while guards looked on. Detainees also reported disregard for their religious rights. Frequent transfers of detainees between centers often caused them to miss court hearings.

Despite the conditions, detainees formed bonds with one another, cooking meals in a microwave and bringing them to sick women and celebrating birthdays with items from the commissary. "When somebody cries, everybody cries, when somebody laughs, everybody laughs," Kordia said.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the conditions described at the Prairieland facility. Kordia has said she sees similarities between the treatment of people in ICE custody and that of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.