Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman from the West Bank, was released Monday from immigration detention in Texas after spending nearly one year in custody. She was freed on $100,000 bond from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas.

Kordia was among approximately 100 people arrested outside Columbia University during pro-Palestinian protests in 2024. She was subsequently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March 2025 during a routine check-in at their New Jersey office and transported to the Texas detention facility.

Federal immigration authorities accused Kordia of overstaying her visa and scrutinized money transfers she made to relatives in the Middle East. Kordia maintained the payments were intended to help family members affected by the conflict in Gaza, where she said Israel had killed scores of her relatives. An immigration judge found "overwhelming evidence" that Kordia was truthful about the purpose of the payments.

Kordia's release came after an immigration judge ordered her freed on bond for the third time. The government had previously challenged the first two bond rulings but did not appeal the most recent decision. Her attorneys cited a neurological condition that had worsened during detention, noting she was recently hospitalized for three days following a seizure.

The charges against Kordia related to the 2024 protest were dismissed and sealed. Information about her arrest was later provided to federal authorities by the New York City Police Department, which said it was requested as part of a money laundering investigation. Kordia has lived in New Jersey since 2016.

Kordia was described as the last person remaining in immigration detention from what advocates characterized as the Trump administration's enforcement actions against non-citizens who participated in pro-Palestinian campus activities. Other detained activists, including former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, were released earlier after spending months in immigration custody.