Protesters rally outside Delaney Hall for Palestinian activist from Paterson, others
Supporters of Palestinian activist and Paterson resident Leqaa Kordia joined with immigrant advocates at a solidarity rally outside Delaney Hall in Newark on June 5.
On a humid morning outside the ICE detention center, the small group of protesters brought attention to Kordia's situation as well as the plight of detainees held in Delaney Hall.
Kordia is currently being held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas. In April 2024, Kordia took part in a demonstration against Israel's military excursion into Gaza outside the gates of Columbia University in New York City.
She was arrested after that demonstration, but the charges against her were dropped. However, as NorthJersey.com reported, she was the target of a Homeland Security Department investigation and was arrested by DHS in March.
On the same day as the rally for her outside Delaney Hall, Kordia was scheduled to appear in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Texas to argue that the detention violated her rights and seek her release.
Banan Abdelrahman, a campaign coordinator with the American Service Committee's New Jersey Immigrant Rights Program, read out comments in Arabic and English that she had received from Kordia on the morning of the rally to share with the protesters.
'I write with full certainty that we will all be free from this cruel justice and I believe with all my heart that I will soon meet you as a free woman,' Abdelrahman read from Kordia.
Abdelrahman also said Delaney Hall is 'expanding the reach of the terror' in immigrant communities in New Jersey. She pointed out that while the rally was happening, an ambulance entering Delaney Hall was not allowed to enter for 10 minutes, which she said is 'indicative of a system that treats people as inhuman.'
Ana Paola Pazmino, executive director of the immigrant rights group Resistencia En Accion, said the rally was important to the people being held inside Delaney Hall as well as their loved ones who are having a hard time getting into the facility to visit those detained. She encouraged people to come out to any protest or gathering outside Delaney Hall to get it closed.
'Make that effort to come out here, make that effort to be part of anything that can dismantle this system,' Pazmino said.
Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com
Twitter/X: @ricardokaul
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Protest for Palestinian activist outside ICE center in Newark
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