Tag Archives: Prairieland Detention Center

Newsweek: Woman With Green Card Detained by ICE After 14 Years in US, Boyfriend Says

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A Colombian immigrant and green-card holder who has lived in Oklahoma for more than a decade and has American children has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to her boyfriend.

Newsweek reached out to ICE via email for comment.

A GoFundMe was recently created to help raise funds for legal fees pertaining to the detainment of Daniela Villada Restrepo, who lives in Oklahoma City and works in health care. She has three children, all born in the U.S. She is a lawful permanent resident, meaning she has a green card.

Why It Matters

Restrepo’s case underscores more widespread concerns by immigrants and attorneys warning caution about potential arrest and detainment, even to those without criminal records. Newsweek could not verify whether Restrepo has any type of criminal background.

President Donald Trump has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and immigrants residing in the country illegally and legally, with valid documentation such as green cards and visas, have been detained. Newsweek has reported dozens of cases involving green-card holders and applicants who were swept up in raids and various arrests.

What To Know

According to her boyfriend, Scott Sperber, ICE agents detained Restrepo on April 12 when she missed a mandatory mental health court appointment, incurring a warrant. ICE records show that she is being held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, which Sperber claims is unable to provide her mental health therapy.

Her Facebook page says she is originally from Medellín, Antioquia, in Colombia.

“Daniela has since been held in an ICE detention center located in Alvarado, Texas, unable to complete her mental health therapy,” Sperber wrote on the GoFundMe page he started on July 23. “Prior to this detainment, Daniela has legally lived in America for almost 14 years. She was married to an American citizen for almost 10 years, and she has three children living in the United States that are American citizens.”

Newsweek reached out to Sperber via the GoFundMe page for comment.

As of the afternoon of August 4, the page had received just two donations totaling $80.

Sperber described his girlfriend as a “wonderful mother and wonderful companion who has had some trials in her life with abusive relationships. She has been fighting to heal and progress.”

She has worked for the Oklahoma State Health Department for nearly five years and as director of patient care services at The Bilingual Clinic PLLC, a business started by her ex-husband and father of her children.

“She is bilingual and has always strived to help provide the best care for those here in America with language barriers,” Sperber said. “She has a character that is caring and loving. Daniela wants, above all, to continue living here legally in the United States so she may care for her children and experience the joy of watching them grow up as any parent would.”

Daniela’s Facebook and Instagram accounts use the name “Daniela Deweber,” writing in a March post on Facebook: “Daniela Villada Restrepo is the name my parents gave me, Daniela Deweber is my married name.”

The GoFundMe was started by Sperber because of legal fees associated with Restrepo’s hopeful release, as well as limited funds due to multiple health situations.

What People Are Saying

ICE, on X on August 4: “ICE is targeting illegal aliens, not law-abiding citizens.”

What Happens Next

A lawyer has been hired in Restrepo’s case.

Sperber, who said he is just starting to recover financially following an automobile accident, is also his grandfather’s sole caregiver. The grandfather receives medical treatment for skin cancer.

“With all of these overbearing aspects of financial life at play, I do not have the adequate funds to pay for her legal fees, her awarded bond, nor to pay her attorney to continue the fight,” Sperber said. “Also, I don’t have adequate financial means to pay for all my grandfather’s health-related financial obligations.

“I am living day by day, one step at a time, and it has become so overwhelming I am finally choosing to ask for help.”

Woman with green card detained by ICE after 14 years in US, boyfriend says
The Oklahoma resident originally from Colombia was married to an American citizen and has three children living in the U.S.

https://www.newsweek.com/green-card-ice-immigration-detention-citizen-2108666

Independent: Texas man returns from honeymoon alone after wife is arrested by ICE in US Virgin Islands

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Taahir Shaikh of Arlington says his wife, Ward Sakeik, was detained by ICE in February in St. Thomas

A recently-married Texas couple has spent over 120 days apart after the bride was detained by ICE during their honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands.

Taahir Shaikh of Arlington says his wife, Ward Sakeik, was detained by ICE in February in St. Thomas, despite having a pending green card application and documentation of her stateless status.

“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,” Shaikh told NBC DFW.

Shaikh said Sakeik was just 8 years old when her family arrived in the U.S. on a visa. Although their asylum request was denied, her lack of citizenship meant the government couldn’t deport them. Instead, they were placed under an order of supervision and required to check in with immigration authorities once a year.

…

Since then, Sakeik has graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington and now works as a wedding photographer. She has always complied with immigration rules for 14 years, Shaikh said.

…

[Her husband] says they carefully chose to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands for their honeymoon, believing it wouldn’t jeopardize her pending immigration status.

ICE addressed Sakeik’s arrest in a statement to NBC DFW, writing, “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 re-enter 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.”

ICE concluded, “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.”

But as the government has already admitted, she has nowhere to go. Period. Stop. That should be the end of the story.

Texas man returns from honeymoon alone after wife detained by ICE
Taahir Shaikh of Arlington says his wife, Ward Sakeik, was detained by ICE in February in St. Thomas

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/wife-arrested-texas-ice-couple-b2774196.html

Fear and Loathing: Badar Khan Suri, post-doctoral fellow, Georgetown University

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Badar Khan Suri didn’t carry a weapon. He carried a syllabus.

A postdoc at Georgetown, he taught courses on peacebuilding, minority rights, and international diplomacy. His lectures challenged power with principle. His research gave voice to the stateless. That was his crime.

DHS never accused him of violence. Never accused him of lying. Just thinking too loudly. Being too brown, too bold, too unwilling to shut up.

And so, in March 2025, they grabbed him.

Masked agents. No warning. Broad daylight. His children watched from the window. His wife — a U.S. citizen — screamed as the SUV pulled away. Georgetown stayed silent for three days. Then the protests began. Students. Professors. Even Jewish alumni. All demanding his release.

The government didn’t care.

What evidence did they offer? His father-in-law was once a Hamas spokesperson. That’s it. No charges. No trial. No defense. Just guilt by association, passed down like a curse.

They revoked his visa. Hauled him to Texas. Locked him away without a single charge.

As of April 2025, he remains detained at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. He has not been deported. He has not been charged. A federal judge has temporarily blocked his removal while his legal team fights back. His next immigration court hearing is scheduled for May 6.

They call him a national security threat.

We call him a scholar silenced.

Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge
Badar Khan Suri didn’t carry a weapon. He carried a syllabus. A postdoc at Georgetown, he taught courses on peacebuilding, minority rights, and international diplomacy. His lectures challenged power…

https://www.facebook.com/FearAndLoathingCloserToTheEdge/posts/665107126158593

Say their names! Remember them!

Rümeysa Öztürk. Artemis Ghasemzadeh. Badar Khan Suri. Yunseo Chung. Ranjani Srinivasan. Kseniia Petrova. Mohsen Mahdawi. Momodou Taal. Felipe Zapata Velásquez. Jerce Reyes Barrios. Francisco García Casique. Andry Hernández Romero. Jessica Brösche. Alireza Doroudi.

These are the names they are trying to vanish.

We won’t let them.

Not today. Not ever.

If they can disappear them, they can disappear you.