Latest news with #TaahirShaikh
Time Magazine
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Detained by ICE on Her Honeymoon: Ward Sakiek's Saga
Ward Sakeik stands in a Dallas kitchen making watermelon juice. For 140 days, someone else decided what and when she would eat. The 22-year-old wedding photographer spent the last five months in ICE detention after being arrested on her own honeymoon. Recently released and reunited with her family, the simple act of planning her day feels overwhelming. "I feel like I'm so behind in life," she says. Her case became a rallying point for immigration advocates in a time of tumult and uncertainty for anyone not born in the U.S. But Sakeik says her experience was all the more bewildering because every question she faced had been resolved over a decade ago. She and her husband had planned their honeymoon carefully, specifically choosing destinations within the territory of the United States because of her immigration status. Sakeik is stateless. Born in Saudi Arabia, she moved to the U.S. with her family when she was nine. Saudi Arabia does not automatically grant citizenship to children born on its soil, and acquiring citizenship there—especially with non-Saudi parents or lineage—is a rare and difficult process. Sakeik's family is originally from the Gaza Strip, which along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem is regarded by international law as Occupied Palestinian Territory.' Their family never flew under the radar ever since day one,' says Sakeik's husband, Taahir Shaikh, a U.S. citizen. 'America knew who they were when they came into the border. They went through the court system. They were given due process. They complied with their deportation orders.' Those orders had been suspended as a matter of routine. Shaikh says the family was granted an Order of Supervision (OSUP) by ICE, a system allowing noncitizens awaiting deportation or other immigration proceedings to stay in the U.S. under certain restrictions—such as regular check-ins—rather than being held in detention. ' She's gone to the same ICE processing center every year her entire life for 14 years,' Taahir says. ICE officers would mention how she's grown up since they had last seen her, and even congratulated her on her college graduation in 2023, he recalls. Her stateless status left her vulnerable. 'She doesn't have an embassy or a consulate back home that can fight for her legal protection,' Taahir Shaikh notes. Read More: Barred from the Birth of His Son, Mahmoud Khalil's Case Brings Family Separation into FocusThe couple planned their honeymoon accordingly. "I told my husband… we're gonna have to travel within the U.S., even though I would love to go to Turkey," Sakeik recalls. "So we decided that we're going to do two weeks in the Virgin Islands because it's U.S. territory." At the Dallas airport, airline employees confirmed their plan was sound. Upon their return, they planned to continue their honeymoon at national parks in Arizona and stayed nine days in the Virgin Islands, but as they prepared to fly home, Sakeik was detained by ICE—first at the St. Thomas Airport, then again when they reached Miami. What followed was months of confusion. In St. Thomas, a Customs and Border Protection officer told her that if she could provide proof of her scheduled reporting date with ICE, she would be released. She did, but 'I still was detained regardless.' History did not seem to matter. "For the last 14 or 15 years that I've been here in America, I was never hiding from ICE. They know exactly where I [was]. They know where I live, they know my family, they know the air I breathe, they know everything," she says. Even when she was transferred to Dallas facilities, the disconnect persisted. 'They're my people,' she recalls thinking. 'They know what's going on.' But the officers who held her seemed unaware of her record. 'When a lot of them were confused, that's when I [thought], who the hell do I blame?" Sakeik was held in three different facilities during her detention, the longest at the El Valle Detention Center outside of McAllen, Texas. There, dust would visibly fall whenever the lights would turn on. When she complained to facility management, "he literally told me, 'you are in the detention center. What do you expect?' The dormitory housed about 100 women, mostly Latina immigrants and some Russians, most of whom wore blue uniforms indicating they were not considered criminals. Sakeik calls them 'blues.' 'We're all different. The way we came [here], the way our lives are, what we live for, what we've achieved, our jobs, and what documents we have.' The names of previous detainees were carved onto the mental bunks. "On my bed alone, I have probably had like a hundred names.' After years of running her own business and making her own decisions, Sakeik found herself subject to someone else's routine for every aspect of her day. She found solace in Just Dance DVD's, which also kept her active. Then, on June 12, she was awakened in the middle of the night and told to gather her things. An official told her she was about to be flown 'to the Israeli border' on a flight her husband later learned was scheduled for Egypt. But waiting on the tarmac, she was told she was staying after all. Twenty days later, on July 2, Sakeik was eating Maruchan ramen with a friend when an ICE officer called her aside. "I went outside and I saw that he was holding documents. So I literally thought in my head, he's about to make me sign another travel document to God knows wherever," she recalls. "And then he looked at me, 'Hey, you're being released.' I started laughing. I was like, yeah, you think so?" "I didn't believe that I was getting released up until I hugged my husband… that's how far off it was from me. I didn't believe it. I didn't trust anybody." But after more than 10 years in America, Sakeik had a community to vouch for her. Her release came after a sustained advocacy campaign organized by her husband and people who knew her. Taahir had started a social media page, and with their legal team started a petition to present to their local congresswoman. Taahir also gathered testimonials from people from her mosque, past university professors, business partners, friends, and her photography teacher. Imam Omar Suleiman, founding president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, got their story out to millions, sharing Sakeik's story in a Friday sermon. 'She literally embraced every opportunity the country gave her,' Taahir says. 'She went through the American school system. This is a girl who has an annual blood donation record at her local Carter BloodCare. Every single client or person that's interacted with her can vouch that her heart is [pure].' It is also more devout. The time in detention brought Sakeik closer to her faith; she decided to start practicing wearing a hijab. "That's the biggest blessing,' she says, 'because I promise you, whenever your freedom has been taken away from you and you have your time with God, you really start to reflect." Sakeik now has an insider's view of the Trump Administration's sweeping immigration enforcement campaign, which extends beyond those with criminal cases to target undocumented individuals regardless of their legal or compliance status. To satisfy presidential demands, field offices are directed to meet new daily arrest quotas—75 arrests per office—raising agency-wide targets to 1,200–1,500 arrests per day, up from only about a few More: Can Trump Deport U.S. Citizens Like Elon Musk and Zohran Mamdani?Her experience reflects an agency with spotty internal communication. "Some of the ICE officers themselves would even tell me, 'I don't know why you're here,'' Sakeik recalls. 'Some of them would straight up tell me, 'If it was up to us, we'd release you.'"She's planning to reopen her photography business in the fall but is taking time to readjust to life outside detention. "I sleep a lot. I stay mainly indoors,' she says. 'It's just the same routine I had in detention, I'm having difficulty letting it go." She shops online to avoid the anxiety produced by visiting stores. "Everything in Costco is considered contraband at the detention center.' But Sakeik also has pledged not to forget what she left behind. "I know how excited I was to receive a letter in there. I would literally fly off of my bunk when the mail lady would come," she says. Sakeik plans to start a letter-writing campaign to support women still inside, and speak for them in now that she's free. "You know, there're plenty more women detained that unfortunately are not getting the same media attention or are too afraid to speak up," she says. "So if I can be that one voice… then yes, why not?"
The National
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
'I was moved around like cattle,' says stateless Palestinian woman detained by ICE
A stateless Palestinian woman who grew up in the US was released this week from American immigration detention after four months in custody. Ward Sakeik, 22, a resident of Texas whose family is originally from Gaza, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when she returned from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands in February. 'I was criminalised for being stateless, something that I absolutely have no control over,' she said at a press conference after her release on Thursday. 'I didn't choose to be stateless … I had no choice. 'I've been a resident of the United States since I was eight years old. I went to college, I run a successful wedding photography business here in [Dallas-Fort Worth], and I recently married Taahir [Shaikh],' she said. 'My family did come here in 2011 seeking asylum, and we have followed all immigration policies and have complied with every single thing, every single document, every single piece of paper, every single thing that was thrown at us,' she said. According to media reports, the family came to the US from Saudi Arabia, where Ms Sakeik was born. They were denied asylum but were allowed to remain in Texas as long as they reported every year to immigration authorities. Ms Sakeik said she was already in the process of obtaining a Green Card for permanent residency when she was arrested at Miami airport. 'I was handcuffed for 16 hours without any water or food on the bus,' said Ms Sakeik, who owns a home in Texas. She said she was not given the option to call a lawyer or her husband. 'We were not given water or food, and we would smell the driver eating. We would ask for water, bang on the door for food, and he would just turn up the radio and act like he wasn't listening to us.' She said immigration officials attempted to deport her twice. She was taken to the airport and told she was being deported to 'the border with Israel' on June 12, hours before the start of the Israel-Iran war that disrupted air travel in the region. Her lawyers said immigration officials prepared to deport her again on June 30, despite a judge's order barring her removal. Ms Sakeik said she was 'moved around like cattle. The US government tried to dump me in a part of the world where I had no idea where I was going, what I was doing.' The Department of Homeland Security said Ms Sakeik was flagged because she 'chose to fly over international waters and outside the US customs zone and was then flagged by CBP [Customs and Border Protection] trying to re-enter the continental US'. 'The facts are: she is in our country illegally. She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade,' Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
News18
05-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
‘No Food, Handcuffed, Treated Like Cattle': Newlywed Bride Recounts US Detention Ordeal
In her first remarks since being released earlier this week from US immigration detention after spending over four months in custody, a 22-year-old Palestinian woman, who was married to a US citizen, said that she was denied basic rights and subjected to harsh treatment while in custody. Ward Sakeik (22), was born in Saudi Arabia but doesn't hold citizenship in any country. She has lived in the United States since the age of 8, but was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in February at the Miami International Airport after returning from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands with her husband, Taahir Shaikh, a US citizen.
The Independent
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
ICE arrested a Palestinian newlywed after her honeymoon. Five months later, she's free
Ward Sakeik was preparing to step on a plane with her new husband Taahir Shaikh after honeymooning in the U.S. Virgin Islands when federal agents pulled her aside at the airport. Sakeik, who is Palestinian but legally stateless despite living in the United States since she was eight years old, was then handcuffed on a plane on the way to Miami on February 11. She had married her husband Taahir Shaikh, a U.S. citizen, just 10 days earlier. The 22-year-old was detained in Florida for three weeks before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Texas. On July 2, after nearly five months in custody, Shaikh picked her up from the Prairieland Detention Center and returned to their home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In the months between, Donald Trump's administration had tried to deport her — twice — and threatened to send her to Israel's border as Israeli rockets were raining down on Iran. A federal judge had intervened and blocked the government from doing so. 'The humanity that I was taught in middle school, elementary, high school and college, growing up, is not the humanity that I've seen,' Sakeik told reporters on Thursday. 'It was the humanity that was stripped away from me.' Sakeik was born to Palestinian refugees in Saudi Arabia, a country that does not grant citizenship by birth. Her family sought asylum in the United States in 2011 after entering on tourist visas. That petition was denied, though because no other country would accept them, they were granted legal permission to remain in the United States under an 'order of supervision' that allowed people with final deportation orders to continue to legally live and work in the United States as long as they check in regularly with immigration officials. The family complied with 'every single thing that was thrown at us,' Sakeik told reporters Thursday. 'I have been a law-abiding resident of the United States since I was eight years old,' she said. 'I did lose five months of my life because I was criminalized for being stateless, something I have absolutely no control over.' Three years ago, she met Shaikh, and the couple married in February. On June 12, ICE officers brought her to the tarmac at Fort Worth Alliance Airport and told her she was being deported to 'the border of Israel,' despite the government's awareness that she is legally stateless, with no path to citizenship available in Israel or in the West Bank. That removal attempt was derailed as Israel and Iran exchanged rocket fire. On June 22, District Judge Ed Kinkeade blocked the government from deporting her or removing her from the Texas district where she was being held while her legal challenge against her arrest and removal played out. But at roughly 5 a.m. June 30, agents woke the 22-year-old and told her to pack her things and prepare to leave the facility immediately, according to her attorneys. An officer told her legal team she was being deported, but would not say where, they said. She called her husband and legal team in a panic as they tried to get the attention of ICE and federal prosecutors. She was sent back to her dorm at the detention center two hours later. Two days later, she was set free. Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed she was released due to the couple filing 'appropriate legal applications,' but her attorneys dispute that account. Shaikh had filed an I-130 petition — which begins a sponsorship process for a citizen spouse to receive a green card — days after they were married in February. That petition was approved on June 27, three days before federal agents told her to pack her things. 'The Trump administration's brazenly unconstitutional attempt to deport this young woman in violation of a federal court order should shock the conscience of every American,' her attorney Eric Lee said in a statement. 'Had we not intervened, she may very well be in a foreign country right now, separated from her family like so many others illegally deported to third countries,' Lee added. 'As the Supreme Court sits on its hands and lets this happen, the American people must stand up and oppose Trump's descent to dictatorship.' American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee legal director Chris Godshall-Bennett called the administration's immigration agenda 'depraved.' 'Let's be clear: Ward was arrested and almost deported simply because she is Palestinian and ICE thought they could get away with it,' he said. 'The new American secret police are out of control, but the fault lies with generations of legislators who have happily demonized immigrants in their race to the fascistic bottom.'
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US tries to deport stateless Palestinian woman again despite judge's order
The US government has tried for the second time to deport a stateless Palestinian woman, according to court documents – despite a judge's order barring her removal. Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old newlywed, was detained in February on her way home from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands. Last month, the government attempted to deport her without informing her where she was being sent, according to her husband, Taahir Shaikh. An officer eventually told her that she would be sent to the Israel border – just hours before Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. After her lawyers filed suit on her behalf, US district judge Ed Kinkeade issued an order on 22 June barring the government from deporting Sakeik or removing her from the Texas district where she is being detained while her case is decided. But on Monday, the government tried once again to deport her. Officers at the detention facility woke her up early in the morning on Monday, and told her she 'had to leave'. When she tried to tell the officer there was a court order blocking her removal, the officer responded: 'It's not up to me.' 'Sakeik informed me that when she arrived at intake, her belongings had been placed outside the door,' her lawyer testified in court documents. Sakeik's family is from Gaza, but she was born in Saudi Arabia, which does not grant birthright citizenship to the children of foreigners. She and her family came to the US on a tourist visa when she was eight and applied for asylum – but were denied. She has had deportation orders since she was nine years old, but she and her family were allowed to remain in Texas as long as they complied with requirements to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Eventually, she graduated from high school in Mesquite, Texas, earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas Arlington and started a wedding photography business. On 31 January, she had a wedding of her own. She applied for a green card, and the first stage of her application was approved. 'The past 12 months of my life have just been the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. You go from buying your first home, planning your dream wedding, attending that wedding, going on your honeymoon, to being separated for over 120 days,' said her husband, a US citizen, in a press conference in June. Due to Sakeik's immigration status, the couple had deliberately chosen not to travel internationally for their honeymoon, deciding to explore the Virgin Islands, a US territory, instead. On 11 February, a Customs and Border Protection officer stopped Sakeik and asked for proof she was under an 'order of supervision', allowing her to remain in the US despite deportation orders. Sakeik was kept handcuffed on the plane to Miami, according to ABC News, where the couple's flight back to Texas had a layover. The couple was told she would be released there. But she has been held in detention ever since. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Shaikh has struggled to cope in the weeks since. He sleeps in the guest room of the house they purchased together, rather than the master bed, he told the Dallas Morning News last month. 'I don't sit on my couch when I eat my meals, I sit on the floor,' he said, out of survivor's guilt. The Department of Homeland Security claimed that Sakeik was flagged because she 'chose to fly over international waters and outside the US customs zone and was then flagged by CBP trying to re-enter the continental US'. 'The facts are she is in our country illegally. She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade,' said assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. McLaughlin did not address the Guardian's question about why the government tried to deport Sakeik despite a judge's order barring her removal.
