British journalist says ICE detention was ‘attack on freedoms’ after 18-day ordeal in US
CNN
By Kara Fox, Sana Noor Haq, CNN
London (CNN) — A British journalist and political commentator detained by US immigration officers for more than two weeks warned of “an attack on the freedoms of ordinary Americans and citizens worldwide” as he returned to the UK Thursday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had detained Sami Hamdi, a London-based father-of-three on October 26 at San Francisco International Airport. ICE stopped him the day after he addressed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) California’s annual gala, while he was en route to Florida to speak at a similar event.
At the time, authorities told Hamdi he was being held after overstaying his US visa. However, Hamdi and his legal team said he was in the US on a valid visa and was detained for speaking out about Israel’s war in Gaza as “political retaliation.”
Hamdi recounted his 18 day ordeal to CNN shortly after his return to London.
“When I entered San Francisco airport to fly to Florida, I went through security. As I looked for my gate, D38 to Tampa, a man walked up to me and said… ‘your visa was revoked two days ago, so now you are here illegally.’”
Hamdi said the news came as a surprise, and he told the officials who had approached him that he had not been informed his visa was under review. He said he was then presented with a memo from the US State Department that said his visa had been revoked, without a reason as to why.
When asked about any evidence that would show that Hamdi had overstayed his visa on Thursday, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told CNN that he wasn’t able to speak on specific cases but said: “We’re going to enforce our immigration laws…We’re revoking visas when appropriate, in line with our national security.”
At the airport, Hamdi said he asked officers for an explanation for the revocation, saying that if there wasn’t one, he would just “book my ticket to London and fly home.”
He said the officers then told him: “‘That’s not the way this works here,’” before escorting him out of the terminal to a vehicle that was waiting for him.
Hamdi said he was told to get in the car, but initially refused, telling the officers: “With the greatest of respect, this looks like the movies. I’m not getting in any black car. I’m a British citizen. I have rights.”
Hamdi is known for his appearances on British TV, his analyses on Middle East developments, for his support of the Palestinian cause – and his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.
After advocating for a phone call, Hamdi, said he briefly spoke with CAIR, a Muslim civil liberties organization, before he was taken to an ICE facility over four hours away.
“They loaded me into a van with tight cuffs on my feet and on my hands, and they drove me four hours…and a half… I had to do a swap in the middle with a different car. And then they took me to the middle of nowhere,” he said.
At the detention center, Hamdi said he endured “harsh” conditions, alongside nearly 100 people in an overcrowded room.
Despite never being charged with a crime, Hamdi said he was kept in shackles in for-profit facilities with little oversight.
“The reality is that those those facilities are dehumanizing to the human beings (there), and when you look at the stories of the other inmates, it only breaks your heart,” he said, recounting multiple stories of fathers with green cards who had been detained without charge.
“It’s not that the courts won’t find them innocent, it’s that it seems there’s a concerted effort to make sure they do not go in front of a judge,” he said.
DHS did not respond to CNN’s query on Hamdi’s claims about his time in ICE detention Thursday but Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reiterated an earlier statement that said: “Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country.”
“I want to say that this wasn’t just an attack on me. It was an attack on the freedoms of ordinary Americans and citizens worldwide. It was an attack on their freedom to speak the truth in the face of hatred,” Hamdi said shortly after he returned back to the UK.
Hamdi first came under fire after speaking at an event in London in 2023 following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks. There, he told his audience not to pity Palestinians but rather to “celebrate the victory,” in remarks from a speech that he told CNN were taken out of context.
In a speech the following year hosted by the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, he said that “no one is saying October 7 was right.”
“My argument was that we have to solve the issue of the rights of the Palestinians. We have to solve the issue of occupation, apartheid, and that will bring peace to the region,” he said.
“I think that the reason that my visa was targeted was not because of anything that I was saying but it was because Americans were listening,” he said Thursday.
“Public opinion is shifting because people are seeing the truth,” he added, alluding to growing awareness of suffering in Gaza.
An independent UN inquiry concluded in September that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has firmly denied accusations of genocide.
Laura Loomer, a conservative American activist with a direct line to Trump, said in late October that Hamdi’s detention had come after she had applied “relentless pressure” on the State Department and DHS. She accused Hamdi of being a supporter of Hamas. CAIR has accused Loomer of being an “anti-Muslim extremist.”
Hamdi said his “detention was a stark demonstration that a Muslim journalist can be held captive because extremists, amplified on social media, seek to weaponize state policy against inconvenient speech.”
Hamdi is one of the latest pro-Palestinian foreign nationals whose visas were revoked by the Trump administration. Earlier this year, Cornell graduate student Momodou Taal had his visa revoked and was targeted for deportation. The dual UK-Gambian citizen has accused the Trump administration of targeting him for participating in pro-Palestinian protests amid the war. In late March, Taal announced he would voluntarily leave the US.
Civil rights organizations have criticized the actions of the Trump administration, saying that they violate free speech protections, which apply to anyone who is legally in the US, regardless of citizenship status.
Hussam Ayloush, CAIR California CEO, said in a Thursday statement Hamdi’s detention should “alarm anyone who cares about the rule of law.”
While Hamdi said he is mulling whether to sue US authorities, he also said he would rather take what he considers a win, and instead “celebrate” the decisions of the “cool heads” in the US State Department and federal court system.
“I won this case, the extremists failed to silence my voice, they failed to remove my freedom of speech. America stood with me,” he said, adding that he was looking forward to spending time with his family and a game of soccer over the weekend.
While he said he is grateful for the global attention brought to his case, he also implied that he is keen to exit the limelight.
“I am not the story,” he added. “The story is one of the most heinous genocides of our time. The story is about kids who had their heads blown off. The story is about kids who had their legs blown off. The story is about innocent women and children who were bombed into oblivion for crimes they did not commit,” he said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Hira Humayun, Zoe Sottile, Nic Robertson and Lex Harvey contributed reporting.
