“Bring Dr. Ann Home” — U.S. Congressman and University Colleagues Demand Release of Nigerian-Born Nursing Professor Detained by ICE for Eight Weeks

Urgent legal advocacy has emerged in Northern California following the prolonged detention of Dr. Ann Lawani, a Nigerian-born palliative care nurse and professor at the University of San Francisco (USF), who has been held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for nearly two months.
Detained on September 16, 2026, Dr. Lawani was transferred thousands of miles away from her Lodi, California home to a detention facility in Louisiana—allegedly disappearing from ICE’s public online detainee locator during the process. Her abrupt removal from her community has prompted U.S. Representative Josh Harder (D-Stockton), university officials, students, and family members to demand her immediate release and return to California.
In an official letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Rep. Harder condemned the detention, pointing out that Dr. Lawani has lived in the U.S. with zero criminal record for over a decade, holds valid work authorization through 2029, and was granted a 2013 judicial order of withholding of removal protecting her from deportation to Nigeria due to persecution risks.

At USF's School of Nursing and Health Professions, Dr. Lawani oversees 230 nursing students and manages partnerships across 38 clinical sites. Dean Eileen K. Fry-Bowers noted that her absence is causing "real and mounting harm" to students, faculty, and vulnerable palliative care patients.
Dr. Lawani is also the primary caregiver for her hospitalized 83-year-old father. Her brother, Samuel Lawani, described her cross-country transfer into a legal "abyss" as both devastating and unjustifiable.
While DHS maintains that she is detained pending removal following an initial 2013 visa overstay ruling, a federal judge has barred the government from deporting her while her emergency habeas corpus petition remains pending.
“Given her longstanding compliance, lack of criminal history, and substantial community ties, there is no apparent public safety justification for keeping Dr. Lawani detained thousands of miles from home while her case proceeds... Our immigration enforcement system should focus on protecting communities from danger, not removing the individuals who dedicate their lives to serving them.”
— Rep. Josh Harder
What are your thoughts on the prolonged ICE detention of Dr. Ann Lawani and the mounting calls for her release? Drop your comments below!

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