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Northern California nurse and professor's ICE detention sparks outrage, family calls out ‘evil’ move
The whereabouts of Ann Lawani, a Northern California nurse and professor at the University of San Francisco, were unknown for 2 months after her ICE detention.
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The whereabouts of a Northern California nurse and professor at the University of San Francisco remained known for two months after she was suddenly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Ann Lawani, a Nigerian immigrant who has served the community of Lodi, California, was detained and sent thousands of miles away to Louisiana.
Family, students, community members, and U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif., have urged the Trump Administration to release Lawani.
"Dr. Lawani has no criminal history and has spent more than a decade serving her community as a nurse, educator, and caregiver,"Harder said in a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security. "Her detention raises serious questions about the Department's enforcement priorities and its treatment of individuals who pose no threat to public safety."
What we know about Ann Lawani
Lawani lived in Lodi for nearly 13 years, USA Today reported. There, she served as a nurse at John Muir Health and also looked after her 83-year-old father.
Lawani also taught at the University of San Francisco in the School of Nursing and Health Professions. There, she oversaw 230 nursing students and managed partnerships with 38 clinical sites.
Samuel Lawani, Lawani's brother, called the federal government's action "evil" and "consequential.” He said that his sister was wrongfully detained, adding that the incident has significantly affected the community.
“My sister is an amazing caregiver, healthcare leader, and educator in our community, and I was devastated not just at her unacceptable arrest, but the decision to send her across the country and detain her unnecessarily," he said, per USA Today.
Samuel added, "She gives everything she has, daily, to save lives and train the nurses of the future to be as trained, ready and dedicated as she is. As a recognized expert in palliative care as well, I can assure anyone, countless lives have been lost due to her absence, since her wrongful detainment."
Immigration agents arrested and detained Lawani at her home in Lodi on September 16. She was then transferred to law enforcement facilities in Stockton, Bakersfield, and El Paso before arriving at a detention immigration facility in Louisiana, ABC 10 reported.
Lawani’s loved ones noticed that since being transferred to Louisiana, she has not appeared in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's database, the New York Times reported. Harder on October 20 sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, claiming that the federal government violated an order withholding her removal to Nigeria, which was granted by a federal immigration judge in 2013, believing she would possibly face persecution.
The DHS, however, said in a statement that Lawani overstayed a visitor visa after she entered the US in 2007. She did apply fir asylum, but a federal immigration judge denied her request and issued a final order of removal in 2013.
"She received due process and was issued a final order of removal on August 6, 2013. She will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States," the department's statement said.
Lawani’s attorney, Natalia Vieira Santana, told ABC 10 that the situation is complicated. She said that her client received an order of removal, adding that the judge also issued an order withholding her removal that same day and said that she had work authorization through 2029.
Eileen K. Fry-Bowers, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of San Francisco, has also urged the federal government to release Lawani, and even created aChange petition to raise awareness of Lawani's situation.
The University of San Francisco spoke out about Lawani's detention in a Facebook post, saying, in part, “USF has been doing everything it can to ensure Ann is afforded full and fair due process under the law, including helping her family find a lawyer. As a Jesuit Catholic institution, we are called to accompany and support the most vulnerable, and we are asking our entire community to support the release of Ann, who is an integral part of our university community. We will continue to advocate for her release so that she may continue her essential work and rejoin her community while her case proceeds.”
Meanwhile, Harder further said in his letter, "Instead, federal agents have devoted significant resources to detaining and transporting individuals like Dr. Lawani, who have no criminal history. Her case illustrates the troubling consequences of an enforcement approach that fails to adequately distinguish between individuals who threaten our communities and those who help sustain them.”
It added, "I therefore urge you to direct ICE to release Dr. Lawani under an order of supervision and facilitate her immediate return to California while her legal proceedings continue."
