Tareq Zakarneh, a 44-year-old Palestinian man who has lived in Portland and Vancouver, Washington, for 13 years, is scheduled to be deported to the West Bank on Friday, September 9. It would be the third time this year the U.S. government has attempted to remove him from the country, and it comes as the United Nations reports thousands of settler attacks against Palestinians in the territory over the past year and a half.
Zakarneh moved to the United States on a student visa in 2013 and attended Portland State University, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. He married a U.S. citizen that same year and obtained conditional permanent resident status, then divorced in 2017. Immigration courts later found that he did not enter the marriage in good faith, and he was ordered to leave the country voluntarily or face deportation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in May 2024, and he has been fighting removal ever since, working at times as an engineer before his detention.
Zakarneh has claimed asylum on the grounds that the Israeli military would persecute him if deported, but the immigration appeals board found there was not enough specificity in his persecution concerns, per the outlet's reporting. He filed multiple appeals to remain in the country, and a judge signed his final deportation order in April. Attorney Eric Welsh has represented Zakarneh through the proceedings.
Two Earlier Attempts Fell Apart
This is not the first time federal officials have tried to put Zakarneh on a plane. The government canceled a June deportation flight after a court found ICE had not provided sufficient notice, and U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo issued an order pulling him off a scheduled removal flight while he was waiting to board early that same morning, according to Fight Back! News. ICE agents have also said Zakarneh was unable to board a February removal flight due to continuing medical issues. Throughout his detention he has been held primarily at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, a facility operated by private prison contractor GEO Group, the outlet reports.
A federal judge writing in July found there was nothing in the record suggesting ICE's removal efforts would fail, according to the same OPB account. ICE attorneys have argued Zakarneh will not be placed in Israeli government custody during the deportation itself. But because the U.S. government classifies Palestinians facing deportation as stateless, removals to the West Bank still require coordination with Israeli military authorities, who control entry checkpoints into the occupied territory. The U.S. does have permission to transport Zakarneh from Israel into the West Bank.
What Awaits in the West Bank
Zakarneh and his advocates say he is likely to face imprisonment or violence if deported. Karim Bouris said Zakarneh would likely be entirely in the custody and control of the Israeli military and possibly tortured, adding that he is almost certain to face horrific conditions if deported. Zakarneh himself said he knows what will happen if he returns.
The United Nations has documented 3,254 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank from the beginning of 2025 through July 2026. Over that same period, the UN attributes 5,641 Palestinian injuries and 316 Palestinian deaths to Israeli forces and settlers, alongside 20 Israeli deaths. The West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, and settlements there have expanded significantly under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; the UN Secretary-General has deemed those settlements a violation of international law. Mike Huckabee issued a sharp rebuke of escalating settler violence in August, and the State Department extended travel restrictions for U.S. government personnel entering the West Bank in July, maintaining a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory for the territory, according to The Media Line.
Congressional Pressure and a Coming Rally
Local activists have pressured members of Congress to intervene in Zakarneh's case. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents the district covering Vancouver, said her office has not received legally required authorization forms related to the case. Immigrant rights organizers held an emergency protest outside her Vancouver office in late August demanding congressional action to prevent his removal, per Fight Back! News. Portland for Palestine plans to hold a rally at the Japanese American Historical Plaza on the Portland waterfront Saturday at 1 p.m.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials did not respond to written questions about Zakarneh's case, OPB reports. Under the Supreme Court's 2001 ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, people in ICE custody generally cannot be held for more than six months once a removal order is final, unless deportation remains reasonably foreseeable — a standard the government has cited to justify continuing to hold Zakarneh through three attempted removals this year.
A Broader Pattern of Contested Deportations
Zakarneh's case echoes that of Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old stateless Palestinian woman in Texas who was released from ICE custody in July 2025 after nearly five months and two attempted deportations, including one that violated a federal judge's temporary restraining order, according to CBS News. Zakarneh had also previously sued USCIS and ICE seeking his immigration records under the Freedom of Information Act; a federal judge dismissed that pro se case in October 2023, ruling the court lacked jurisdiction to interfere with his pending removal proceedings.
As Friday's scheduled flight approaches, it remains unresolved whether congressional intervention or pending federal habeas petitions in Washington district court will secure a stay of removal before Zakarneh is put on a plane for the third time this year.
