The woman was detained by immigration officials in February as she returned from honeymooning with her new husband in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
RICHARDSON, Texas — A North Texas woman who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as she returned from her honeymoon has been released after nearly five months in detention, an attorney representing her confirmed.
The woman, Ward Sakeik, was initially arrested by immigration officials as she returned from honeymooning in the U.S. Virgin Islands with her new husband, Taahir Shaikh, in February, according to attorney Eric Lee.
After nearly five months, Shaikh picked Sakeik up Tuesday night from Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE facility in Johnson County, and the couple returned to their DFW home, Lee said.
Sakeik was born in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian parents, but doesn’t have citizenship in either country, leaving her stateless, Shaikh explained during a news conference in June. She’s lived in the U.S. since her parents brought her when she was 8, he said at the time. Shaikh previously said her family had applied for asylum, and a judge signed a removal order, but no country accepted them. She was later given legal permission to work in the U.S., he said.
Sakeik went on to attend UT-Arlington and start a wedding photography business, Shaikh said.
Sakeik’s release allegedly came after ICE had attempted to deport her twice in June, according to a statement from Lee.
ICE officers brought Sakeik to an airport in the Fort Worth area and told her they were deporting her to the Israeli border on June 12, Lee alleges, but it didn’t happen. Then, on Monday, one day before she was released, officers attempted to deport Sakeik again despite a court order preventing her deportation, Lee alleged in a press statement, but officers wouldn’t say where.
“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,” Lee said in a statement.
Maria Kari of Project TAHA, a legal nonprofit also representing Sakeik, called her release “a powerful step forward” for her.
“Today marks a powerful step forward for Ward, who has been released from immigration detention and reunited with her spouse, Taahir, after 141 days,” Maria said in a statement. “This is a moment of much needed relief and joy — one that every family deserves. Ward’s case is one of too many that are emblematic of this administration’s cruelty-based immigration enforcement system where daily we are seeing loved ones torn apart.”