As courts ordered the release of pro-Palestinian protesters across the United States, one woman has remained behind bars: Leqaa Kordia, a 32-year-old Paterson resident.

Kordia has spent more than seven months in immigration detention in Texas — even though she was not charged with a crime, a judge twice ordered her release, and the government decided that she was unlikely to be a flight risk or a danger.

The Department of Homeland Security claims Kordia violated her visa. But her attorneys and civil rights groups argue she was targeted as part of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech.

Her family and attorneys are now pinning their hopes on an Oct. 23 immigration court hearing, where a judge will consider a motion to end what they call unconstitutional and retaliatory detention

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