Stateless Palestinian woman released after months in ICE detention

IRVING, Texas - A North Texas woman is finally back home with her husband, after spending months in an ICE detention center.

What we know:

Ward Sakeik is Palestinian, but was born in Saudia Arabia, where there is no pathway to citizenship.

So, she and her family came to the U.S. when she was 8-years old to seek asylum.

Sakeik is considered a "stateless Palestinian", meaning she has no home country of origin.

She thought she was safe flying to the U.S. Virgin Islands, since it's a U.S. territory, and she was up-to-date on her immigration check-ins. But she was detained by ICE on her way back home to North Texas, and spent nearly 5 months in an immigration facility before suddenly being released on Tuesday night.

Sakeik was applauded by supporters as she took the podium in Irving on Thursday to discuss her lengthy stay and sudden release from an ICE detention center.

"My greatest fear was not coming back into the life that I built for myself," she said.

Sakeik's detainment

The backstory:

This ordeal began back in February.

Sakeik and her husband Taahir, a U.S. citizen, had just gotten married, and they decided to take a trip to St. Thomas for their honeymoon, but when their commercial flight landed in Miami, for a connection back to Dallas, she was taken into custody by immigration officers.

"We were taken immediately into the van before we were placed in the van. That's when we were put in handcuffs."

Sakeik said she was initially told that she was being detained because she had flown over international waters.

During her 140 days in ICE detention, Sakeik was nearly deported twice despite a federal judge ordering that she remain in Texas.

Sakeik's attorney

What they're saying:

Sakeik’s attorney, Chris Godshall-Bennett, told FOX 4 of the confusion upon her arrest.

"They have to give her an opportunity to say I can't go there, I'm stateless. I don't have rights in that place."

Then suddenly, on Tuesday night, she was released, and her husband picked her up from the Prairieland Detention Facility.

Sakeik was issued a deportation order more than a decade ago after her asylum case was denied, but she was permitted to stay in the U.S. under what's known as an "Order of Supervision" in which she was given a work permit and regularly checks in with federal immigration authorities.

Department of Homeland Security on Sakeik

The other side:

When we asked DHS why Sakeik was released from custody, a spokesperson said:

"Following her American husband and her filing the appropriate legal applications for her to remain in the country and become a legal permanent resident, she was released from ICE custody."

Her attorney disputes that narrative, claiming DHS tried to deport Sakeik for a second time after that form was already filed.

Sakeik has applied for a "change of status" now that she is married to a U.S. citizen.

Her attorney tells me he expects she will be granted a lawful permanent residence, then she is allowed to be in the U.S. and 5 years later she can become a U.S. citizen.

ImmigrationDallas County