Husband says Arlington bride detained by ICE, fears deportation despite stateless status

A newlywed Arlington man says his bride is being held in an ICE detention facility after she was detained on their honeymoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands in February.

Now, Taahir Shaikh fears Ward Sakeik will be deported, despite having no country to call home.

This time last year, Shaikh would have likely said the couple was at the start of their happily ever after.

“The past 12 months of my life has 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,” said Shaikh.

He said the newlyweds had just arrived in St. Thomas when Sakeik was detained by ICE despite a pending green card application and proof of a unique circumstance.  

“She’s considered stateless, which essentially just means you’re born in a country that doesn’t give you birthright citizenship. And since she was a Palestinian refugee that was born in Saudi Arabia, they weren’t recognized as Saudi nationals,” he said.

Shaikh said Sakeik was 8 when her family came to the U.S. on a visa. Their application for asylum was denied, but with no citizenship, the U.S. couldn’t deport them. Instead, they were given an order of supervision and told to check in annually.

He said Sakeik, a UT Arlington graduate-turned-wedding photographer, has always complied.

Still, now she’s held at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado after spending several months detained in McAllen.

The couple is starting life as husband and wife with weekly visits and video calls.

“She constantly says, ‘When I get through this phase of my life, what am I not able to endure after this?’” said Shaikh.

ICE released a statement saying:

“The arrest of Ward Sakeik was not part of a targeted operation by ICE. She chose to leave the country and was then flagged by CBP trying to renter the U.S.

The facts are she is in our country illegally. She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade. President Trump and Secretary 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.

She had a final order of removal since 2011. Her appeal of the final order was dismissed by the Board of Immigration Appeals on February 12, 2014. She has exhausted her due process rights and all of her claims for relief have been denied by the courts.”

Shaikh says he hasn’t received communication from the Department of Homeland Security, even after a fear last week that his wife would be deported.

Her green card approval remains on hold as long as she’s detained.

When asked why the couple would risk leaving the mainland while her application was pending, Shaikh said they didn’t see it that way.

“We felt we did our due diligence, and we were very intentional. There's a reason we chose the U.S. Virgin Islands,” he said.

Shaikh said the couple’s legal team is now doing everything they can to keep her on U.S. soil.

“I need people to realize that this is someone who has complied every year for 14 years and has always sought to be able to build lawful permanent residence. But when you’re stateless, you don’t have that luxury. Now that you’re finally at the finish line, why would you take it away?” said Shaikh.

According to the Center for Migration Studies, stateless persons in removal proceedings can be released from custody after 90 days.

Sakeik has now been held for more than 120 days.