Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old stateless Palestinian woman, has become the focus of an ongoing legal battle. Now for the second time, the U.S. government is attempting to deport her – despite a direct order from a federal judge forbidding them from doing so. Sakeik has been a U.S. resident since she was eight. Today she has no clear path forward as her legal situation develops.
Sakeik was born in Saudi Arabia to a refugee family from Gaza. He never got citizenship, due to Saudi Arabia’s longstanding practice of not granting birthright citizenship to children of non-Saudis. At eight years old, she immigrated to the U.S. on a tourist visa with her family. Afterward, they filed an asylum application but were subsequently denied. As a result, deportation orders were issued against Sakeik while she was only nine years old.
Though these implications have been no small barrier, Sakeik has created a life in Texas. She graduated from high school in Mesquite, then received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas Arlington. Most recently, she launched her own wedding photography business, a true testament to her creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. On January 31, she celebrated a different milestone by marrying Taahir Shaikh.
The couple’s joy was short-lived. On February 11, after returning to the U.S. from their honeymoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands, that’s when Sakeik got held up by immigration authorities. After her detention, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade ordered on June 22 to stop this practice. In his order to stop the government from deporting her, Judge Ting acknowledged the thorny legal complexities of her status.
Yet even in the wake of this ruling, the U.S. government soon launched a new deportation effort against Sakeik. This has raised concerns about the adherence to judicial orders and the treatment of stateless individuals within the immigration system.
Taahir Shaikh expressed his distress over the situation, stating, “The past 12 months of my life have just been the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. You go from buying your first home, planning your dream wedding, attending that wedding, going on your honeymoon, to being separated for over 120 days.”
Sakeik and her family had already been authorized to remain in Texas. In practice, though, they had to report at set intervals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Although she is no longer in danger, the sudden change in her status has those close to her understandably worried about what the future holds.
As an officer at the detention facility said about the current situation, as for what happens to Sakeik, he said cryptically, “It’s not up to me,” perhaps suggesting the high politics that will shape Sakeik’s fate.