Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old Palestinian stateless woman from Texas, openly described her harrowing experience of detention for 140 days in US immigration detention upon her return from her honeymoon.
Sakeik, who immigrated to the United States when she was eight years old, reported that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) picked her up at Miami International Airport last February despite the fact that she had documents explaining the status of her pending green card application and wore her wedding ring.
“I was just returning from my honeymoon with my husband,” Sakeik told a press conference in Dallas-Fort Worth. “Instead, I was shackled, handcuffed for 16 hours with no food or water and transported like cattle.”
She and her husband, Taahir Shaikh—a US citizen—opted for the US Virgin Islands as their honeymoon destination precisely to steer clear of complications regarding international travel. Nonetheless, ICE officials arrested her upon return on grounds of her undocumented status.
ICE Denies Mis-treatment Claims; Sakeik Pushes Back With Firsthand Account
The Department of Homeland Security came to the defense of ICE’s management of the case. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, “Any suggestion that there is a shortage of food or subprime conditions at ICE detention facilities is false. Proper meals, medical care, and the ability to speak with family and attorneys are provided to all detainees.”
Sakeik vehemently denied those assertions. “I had days where I couldn’t contact my attorney or my husband more than 36 or even 50 hours,” she reported. “No phone calls were provided. I sat and waited and did everything I could to stall just to get to a working phone.”
ICE Attempted Deportation Twice in Violation of Court Orders
ICE twice tried to deport her in disregard of court order, said her attorneys. On June 12, ICE officials escorted her to the tarmac at Fort Worth Alliance Airport and told her they would send her to “the border of Israel.” Her attorneys intervened both times to prevent the deportation.
Sakeik replied that “I did not become stateless. I have gone through every immigration procedure since I was a child. I have established my life here, attended college, and have a small wedding photo business in Texas.”
The American government asserted that she has been under a final order of removal for more than a decade, after her family’s asylum application was denied. “Ward Sakeik was not in compliance with immigration policy,” McLaughlin said. “She overstayed her visa and has been under removal since the asylum claim of her family was rejected.”
Critics Connect Case to Wider Trump-Era Immigration Crackdown
Immigrant rights activists highlighted her case as an example of draconian immigration policies during the second term of the Trump administration. ICE has deported more than 100,000 people in one year and confirmed at least 12 deaths in custody since October 2024.
Now that she is free and reunited with her husband, she has vowed to speak out on behalf of others who are going through similar struggles as well. “The America I grew up believing in isn’t the America I saw in detention,” she said.