Family members said they were left without updates after Kordia was transferred from the Prairieland Detention Facility, prompting concern over her health and treatment in custody.
Her cousin, Hamzah Abushaban, said the family was “stonewalled, like hardcore”, as they sought details about her whereabouts and wellbeing.
Kordia arrived in the United States in 2016 from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank under the Israeli regime, first on a visitor visa and later on a student visa.
She subsequently applied for permanent residency through her mother, a US citizen living in New Jersey.
Her legal team said she was wrongly advised by a trusted mentor that an initial approval of the application meant she already had legal status, after which her student visa expired.
Immigration officials maintain Kordia was detained for overstaying her student visa rather than for her pro-Palestine advocacy.
However, in a March 2025 announcement about her arrest, the Department of Homeland Security indicated that she and another protester — who allegedly “self-deported” — were linked to activism.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the release.
“When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
Meanwhile, concerns over detention conditions have intensified.
In a Monday statement, Mazzola accused immigration officials of showing “blatant disregard” for Kordia’s human rights, citing her declining health while in custody.
Kordia has been held at the Prairieland Detention Facility, roughly 2,400km (1,500 miles) from her family in New Jersey.
Author and advocate Laila El-Haddad said she visited Kordia in December and found her “very thin, very gaunt”, adding that Kordia complained about unsanitary conditions and insufficient nutritious food at the crowded center.
“She talked about this being a place that is intentionally dehumanizing; that aims to strip her and others of their dignity and their humanity,” she told Al Jazeera.
Her lawyers and relatives said she frequently experiences dizziness, fainting and other symptoms consistent with poor nutrition.
El-Haddad nevertheless said Kordia remained positive and acted as a source of encouragement for fellow detainees.
“She’s very humble. She kept talking about how ‘I’m not a leader or an activist,'” El-Haddad remembered.
Attention to the case has also been uneven, supporters say.
El-Haddad said Kordia’s situation has drawn less public attention than some other student protest cases but remains significant.
“She wasn’t a public-facing activist or speaker in the way some of the other [targeted protesters] were,” El-Hadded explained.
“But she found herself in a position and felt compelled [to protest] because of her own humanity and because she was a person with a deep moral compass and consciousness to act and to speak out.”
Family members also stress the personal toll.
Abushaban said Kordia’s absence has been deeply felt during family gatherings, marking a year of missed birthdays, holidays and milestones.
“I was born and raised here, and the rest of my family were all born and raised here,” he said.
“And just because we are Palestinians, we still have to feel suppressed in this country.”