Ward spoke publicly for the first time since being detained at a Miami airport in February. She had been held in ICE custody for 140 days after returning from her honeymoon.
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‘Was put in shackles’
Ward Sakeik said she lost five months of her life because of her statelessness in her first remarks since being released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention earlier this week. After arriving back from the US Virgin Islands with her husband Taahir Shaikh, Sakeik said, “I was put in a gray tracksuit and shackles immediately,” during a press conference held in Dallas-Fort Worth. “I was handcuffed for 16 hours without any water or food on the bus. I was moved around like cattle,” Sakeik added.
“I was overfilled with joy and a little shock,” she said at a press conference on Thursday. “I mean, it was my first time seeing a tree in five months.” The US government tried to dump me in a part of the world where I had no idea where I was going, what I was doing,” WSWS quoted Sakeik as saying.
She ran to her husband, who had come to pick her up. “I was like, oh my God, I can touch him without handcuffs and without a glass. It was just freedom.”
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However, the department of Homeland Security denied these claims. “Any claim that there is a lack of food or subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek.”All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE. Meals are certified by dietitians.”
ICE attempted to deport Ward Sakeik
The development comes at a time when President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in US history, and in the initial months of his second term, his administration has deported more than 100,000 people. Anyone living in the country without legal status is considered a “criminal,” the White House has said.
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ICE had attempted to deport Sakeik in the early hours of June 30, despite a federal court order barring her removal, a day before her release. The first time, she was told she was being taken to the Israel border – just as Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, reported The Guardian. The second time, Sakeik was told once again she would be deported – despite a judge’s order barring her removal from her home state of Texas.
Her legal team said at around 5 a.m. CT on Monday, Sakeik was woken by guards and told to prepare to leave the facility immediately, according to the legal team, in what was the second attempt by ICE to deport Sakeik unlawfully.
“These deportations, they just happened all of a sudden—I was not given a phone call,” Sakeik said at the press conference.
She added that she was able to call her husband, but “a phone call was not provided to me from ICE.” “I just had to wait and take a very, very long time to pack my stuff to just buy time to wait for the phone system to work to call Taahir,” she said.
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She also said that “there were multiple days where it would be 36 hours, 50 hours, where I was not allowed to make a phone call to my attorney or my husband.”
“I have been a law-abiding resident of the United States since I was 8 years old. I went to college. I run a successful wedding photography business here in [Dallas-Fort Worth],” she said.
Around the time of her January wedding, Sakeik applied for a green card and cleared the initial stage of the process. Due to her immigration status, she and her husband chose to honeymoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands to avoid the risks of international travel.
Despite her pending green card application and documentation outlining her complex immigration history, Sakeik was detained. Born in Saudi Arabia but not a citizen there, she came to the United States with her family at the age of 8.
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“My family did come here in 2011 seeking asylum, and we have followed all immigration policies and have complied with every single thing, every single document, every single piece of paper, every single thing that was thrown at us,” she said.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NewsWeek, “Ward Sakeik was not ‘complying with immigration policies.’ The facts are she is in our country illegally.”
“Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE. Why does the media continue to fall for the sob stories of illegal aliens in detention and villainize ICE law enforcement?
“She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade. President Trump and [Homeland] Secretary [Kristi] Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S.”
