Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by immigration officers for overstaying her student visa, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by immigration officers for overstaying her student visa, the Department of Homeland Security said.
— Immigration officials have arrested a second person who participated in Pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, and have revoked the visa of another student, they announced Friday.
Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by immigration officers for overstaying her student visa, the Department of Homeland Security said. Kordia’s visa was terminated in January 2022 for “lack of attendance,” the department said. Kordia was previously arrested for her involvement in protests at Columbia in April 2024, it added.
The Trump administration also revoked the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student, on March 5 “for advocating for violence and terrorism.” On Tuesday, Srinivasan opted to “self-deport,” the department said.
The announcement comes after the recent arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who helped lead student protests at the school and is facing deportation.
Khalil was rushed from New York to Louisiana last weekend in a manner that left the outspoken Columbia University graduate student feeling like he was being kidnapped, his lawyers wrote in an updated lawsuit seeking his immediate release.
The lawyers described in detail what happened to the Palestinian activist as he was flown to Louisiana by agents he said never identified themselves. Once there, he was left to sleep in a bunker with no pillow or blanket as top U.S. officials cheered the effort to deport a man his lawyers say sometimes became the “public face” of student protests on Columbia’s campus against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
