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British Political commentator Sami Hamdi is voluntarily leaving the US after spending more than two weeks in immigration detention, as his supporters criticize him. israelThe Trump administration has accused him of cheering Hamas,
Hamdi, who is MuslimHe was on a speaking tour in the US when he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on October 26. He addressed the annual gala of the Sacramento, California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, just a day before his arrest.
In a statement late Monday, the organization said Hamdi “has voluntarily chosen to accept the offer to leave the United States.”
“It’s that simple: Sami should never have spent a single night in an ICE cell. His only real ‘crime’ was speaking out candidly about Israel’s genocidal war crimes against Palestinians,” Hussam Ayloush, CEO of CAIR’s California chapter, said in a statement.
Hamdi’s detention was part of broader efforts by the Trump administration to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreigners in the United States whom it says have either instigated or participated in unrest or publicly supported protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Those enforcement actions have been criticized by civil rights groups as a violation of constitutional protections for free speech, which apply to anyone in the United States, not just US citizens.
Zahra Billoo, executive director of CAIR’s San Francisco office, said Tuesday that arrangements for Hamdi’s departure were still being worked out, but it could happen as soon as this week. Billu said that “there were no conditions for voluntary departure” and that he has not been prevented from seeking another US visa in the future.
CAIR said Hamdi’s charging document in immigration court did not accuse him of criminal conduct or security concerns, but only of overstaying his visa period, for which he accused the government of revoking his visa.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Tuesday that Hamdi had requested voluntary departure and “ICE is gladly arranging for his removal from this country.”
state Department Due to “Visa records confidentiality”, it could not comment on specific cases.
CAIR said Hamdi, 35, was detained in response to his vocal criticism of the Israeli government during a US speaking tour.
The Department of Homeland Security said at the time of Hamdi’s arrest that the State Department had revoked his visa and ICE had placed him in immigration proceedings. Homeland Security later accused them of supporting Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
In a statement at the time, McLaughlin cited comments he made in a video posted online shortly after the Hamas attacks, in which he asked: “How many of you felt it in your heart when you got the news that this happened? How many of you felt excitement? Allah Akbar.”
Hamdi later said that his intention was not to praise the attacks but to suggest that violence “is a natural consequence of the oppression being inflicted on Palestinians.”
The State Department has not specifically said what Hamdi said or did that triggered the revocation, but in a post on Twitter the department said: “The United States has no obligation to host aliens” whom the administration says “support terrorism and actively undermine the security of Americans. We continue to revoke visas for individuals who engage in such activity.”