British Muslim Journalist to Be Freed From ICE Detention
Sami Hamdi was detained after Islamophobic influencers called for him to be deported. Turns out the Trump admin revoked his visa, and then arrested him for overstaying his visa.
Sami Hamdi, a British Muslim journalist and commentator who Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained two weeks ago at an airport under no clear legal basis, is set to be freed from detention, according to his family and legal team.
ICE agents detained Hamdi at the San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 26. Hamdi, of Tunisian and Algerian descent, had just addressed a crowd at an event in Sacramento, as part of a speaking tour in the US. At the event, he had pressed US leaders to take an “America First” approach rather than “Israel First.” Hours later, apparently at the behest of pro-Israel interests, ICE detained him.
At the time, the legal rationale for the arrest was unclear. Two unelected, far-right, Islamophobic figures had taken credit: Laura Loomer and Amy Mekelburg. The latter released a pages-long report a week earlier that called on the US to deport Hamdi and bar him from re-entering the country, baselessly alleging he was “training US Muslims in digital agitation, electoral sabotage, and political warfare in alignment with Muslim Brotherhood doctrine.” Just two days later, the State Department revoked his visa. US agents arrested him the following day.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically boosted Mekelburg’s dossier on Hamdi on Twitter after the administration detained Hamdi.
At the time, the Trump administration did not respond to Zeteo’s questions about why the US would not allow Hamdi to simply return to the UK. Now, according to Hamdi’s legal team, he has accepted an offer to leave the US voluntarily. Hamdi’s team says the intense media coverage on the unusual detention helped lead to the deal. “It is exceedingly rare for DHS to agree to voluntary departure for a case that was clearly political,” Hassan Ahmad, a member of Hamdi’s legal team, told Zeteo. “The fourth branch of government should take a bow.”
Hamdi is set to be released in the coming days, his legal team said.
McLaughlin, in a statement on Monday, told Zeteo that “ICE is happily arranging his removal from this country.” She also repeated the baseless claim that Hamdi is a “terrorist sympathizer.”
Hamdi’s legal team said the legal documents in this case alleged only a visa overstay, not any other criminal conduct or security concerns. In other words, the Trump administration quietly revoked Hamdi’s visa, so agents could arrest him for overstaying his visa. Even still, DHS celebrated the arrest on Twitter, to millions of people, asserting without evidence that Hamdi supported terrorism and actively undermined “the safety of Americans.”
“Even as the government’s own filings depicted Hamdi’s case as an overstayed visa, DHS used its official social media platforms to malign him – a troubling misuse of power that raises broader civil liberties concerns,” the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement Monday.
Influencers Shaping US Immigration Policy
Loomer and Mekelburg are part of a broader ecosystem of far-right, pro-war, pro-Israel, anti-speech, unelected individuals and organizations helping shape the Trump-Vance administration’s reckless kidnapping and speech-silencing regime.
The recent landmark court case AAUP v. Rubio revealed how the Trump administration has enlisted the support of such groups, including Canary Mission, an anti-speech and pro-Israel doxxing website, to target students like Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, and other students.
Ahmad previously told Zeteo that Hamdi’s case was similar to what administration had done to these students, identifying targets “by relying on information provided by fringe, right-wing, Islamophobic shills like the Canary Mission or Betar, or, in the case of Sami Hamdi, apparently, Mekelburg and Loomer, who are right-wing conspiracy nuts and apparently have the ear of the administration in some way.”
Notably, the Trump administration stopped approving medical visas for Palestinians from Gaza, including children, after Loomer spearheaded a lobbying campaign against the visa program.
In a text message to Zeteo on Monday, Ahmad called the entire situation a “warning bell” of what the administration will continue to do if not stopped. “We’ve seen this administration weaponize immigration law, but detaining journalists is the hallmark of autocratic dictatorships. We’re doing that now,” he wrote. “And to talk out of two sides of their mouth: Online, where no proof is required, they smear him, but in court, where proof is required, all they had was manufactured visa overstay.”
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I am glad to know that Sami Hamdi was safely returned home. This administration is ( capriciously) playing games with people's lives. It was a stupid and malicious thing to do to Hamdi, and further, does nothing to keep Americans safe(r). I remain mystified at the outsized influence unelected individuals have over this administration. Sheesh. Unacceptable.
Are these two Loomer and the other one getting $7000 a post or on another payroll?