Overview

• Sakeik was detained in February at the St. Thomas Airport in the U.S. Virgin Islands after returning from her honeymoon.
• On June 22, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade banned her removal from the Northern District of Texas as her case proceeds.
• ICE sought to deport her twice—first on June 12 by transporting her to a tarmac for a flight to the Israel border and again on June 30 in defiance of the court order.
• She was released from the Prairieland Detention Center on July 1 after nearly five months in custody and returned to her Texas home.
• Born stateless in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian refugee parents, she secured initial approval on her green card application days before the second removal attempt, highlighting clashes over enforcement policy and court oversight.