Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old stateless Palestinian who has lived in the United States since childhood, was released Tuesday night from the Prairieland Detention Center south of Arlington, Texas, after spending nearly five months in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Her attorney said she reunited with her U.S.-citizen husband, Taahir Shaikh, and spoke publicly on Thursday about the detention she said “stole five months” of her life.
ICE arrested Sakeik on 11 February as the couple transited Miami on their return from a honeymoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Agents cited a final removal order dating to 2011, tied to her family’s denied asylum request, even though she was living under an order of supervision that allowed her to work and required regular check-ins with immigration authorities.
A federal judge subsequently barred her deportation, yet lawyers say ICE nevertheless tried to remove her twice—on 12 June at Fort Worth Alliance Airport and again on 30 June—before each attempt was halted through emergency legal action. On 27 June U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved her Form I-130, the first step toward a marriage-based green card, but the agency released her only after the second aborted deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security maintains that Sakeik’s arrest was routine and notes she overstayed her visa, while her legal team argues she was targeted despite protections afforded to stateless Palestinians and her pending residency case. Advocates say her ordeal highlights gaps in immigration enforcement for people without a country willing to accept them, an issue that could affect other stateless residents facing longstanding removal orders.
Ward Sakeik, 22, the Palestinian woman who was detained in February by ICE on her way home from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands was released from custody after the US government tried for the second time to deport her
