Washington– British political commentator Sami Hamdi He will leave the United States voluntarily after spending more than two weeks in an immigration detention center over what his supporters say is criticism of Israel. The Trump administration accused him of encouraging Hamas.
Hamdi, a Muslim, was on a speaking tour in the United States when… He was arrested By Immigration and Customs Enforcement on October 26. He had just spoken at the annual gala of the Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in Sacramento, California, the day before his arrest.
The organization said in a statement issued late Monday that Hamdi “chose to accept the offer to leave the United States voluntarily.”
“It’s that simple: Sami should not have spent a single night in an ICE cell,” Hossam Ayloush, CEO of CAIR California, said in a statement. “His only real crime was speaking out about the genocidal war crimes Israel is committing against Palestinians.”
Al-Hamdi’s arrest was part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreign nationals in the United States who it says either incited, participated in, or participated in the unrest. Openly supported protests Against Israeli military operations in Gaza.
Civil rights groups have criticized these enforcement actions as a violation of constitutional protections for free speech, which apply to anyone in the United States and not just American citizens.
Zahra Bello, executive director of CAIR’s San Francisco office, said on Tuesday that the logistics of Hamdi’s departure were still being worked out, but could happen later this week. Bello said there were “no conditions for voluntary departure” and that he was not prohibited from obtaining another US visa in the future.
Kerr said the charging document against Hamdi in immigration court did not accuse him of criminal conduct or security concerns but only mentioned overstaying his visa, which they blamed on the government that revoked his visa.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement Tuesday that Hamdi requested voluntary departure and that “Immigration and Customs Enforcement gladly arranges his removal from this country.”
The Foreign Office said that because of the “confidentiality of the visa register,” it could not comment on specific cases.
Kiir said that Hamdi (35 years old) was arrested in response to his frank criticism of the Israeli government during a speaking tour in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security said at the time of Hamdi’s arrest that the State Department had revoked his visa and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed him in immigration proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security later accused him of supporting Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
In a statement issued at the time, McLaughlin cited remarks he made in a video posted online shortly after the Hamas attacks, in which he asked: “How many of you felt it in your hearts when you heard the news of this happening? How many of you felt ecstasy? God is great.”
Hamdi later said his intention was not to praise the attacks but rather to point out that the violence was “a natural consequence of the oppression to which Palestinians are subjected.”
The State Department has not said specifically what Hamdi said or did that led to the cancellation so far In a post on X “The United States is not obligated to host foreigners” who the administration considers “support terrorism and undermine the safety of Americans,” the department said. “We continue to revoke the visas of people involved in such activity.”