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Zimbabwean woman lured to airport gate by United, detained two weeks by ICE

Mar 27, 2026·Location: Phoenix, AZ

Country of origin: Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean woman lured to airport gate by United, detained two weeks by ICE
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Patience Gore, a 44-year-old Zimbabwean national who has lived in the U.S. for about 24 years, was seized by undercover plainclothes ICE agents at a United Airlines gate at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after a gate agent repeatedly called her name over the loudspeaker. Gore, who held a withholding of removal order, has sole custody of her 11-year-old U.S. citizen daughter and is married to U.S. citizen Olaoluwa Omotosho; she had been traveling home to Maryland with her partner after attending a friend's wedding. She was held for nearly two weeks across three Arizona detention facilities in what her lawsuit describes as degrading, squalid conditions, including sleeping on a mattress on the floor, being denied a change of clothes, and being denied sunglasses despite light sensitivity. The detention disrupted a time-sensitive IVF cycle, and a subsequent replacement cycle did not result in pregnancy. A federal judge granted her habeas petition and ordered her release on March 27, and she and her husband are now suing United Airlines, alleging it colluded with ICE to lure her to the gate.

Timeline

Mar 27, 2026—A federal judge granted Gore's habeas petition and ordered her release after nearly two weeks in detention.
Mar 15, 2026—Reports detail Patience Gore's detention by undercover ICE agents at a United Airlines gate in Phoenix after being called to the counter by a gate agent.
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