Ann Lawani has been a nurse for over a decade. She teaches at the University of San Francisco where she oversees 230 nursing students and cares for her 83-year-old father.
But now, the United States government has locked her up for two months.
Lawani, a Nigerian immigrant, was arrested at her home in Lodi on September 16 by ICE agents. She was transferred to facilities in Stockton, Bakersfield, and El Paso before ending up in a detention center in Louisiana. Her family did not know where she was for nearly two months.
The Case
DHS says Lawani overstayed a visitor visa after entering the country in 2007. She applied for asylum, was denied, and received a final order of removal in 2013.
But her attorney says the same judge who issued the removal order also granted her withholding of removal that day. She has a work authorization valid through 2029. She has no criminal history.
“She received due process and was issued a final order of removal on August 6, 2013,” DHS said in a statement. “She will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the United States.”
Her brother, Samuel Lawani, called the detention “evil.” “She gives everything she has, daily, to save lives and train the nurses of the future,” he said. “Countless lives have been lost due to her absence.”
The Silence
Since her transfer to Louisiana, Lawani has not appeared in ICE’s public database. The New York Times reports that DHS changed its policies to remove detainees with final deportation orders from the database.
That means her family, her students, and her attorneys cannot find her. She has disappeared into the system.
The Bottom Line
Ann Lawani, a Nigerian nurse and professor, has been detained by ICE since September 16. She has no criminal history. Her attorney says she has a court order withholding her removal. DHS says she overstayed a visa. Her family and students are demanding her release.
My Opinion
Ann Lawani saves lives. She trains nurses. She cares for her father. And the United States government has locked her in a detention center in Louisiana.
The charge? She overstayed a visa 19 years ago. She had applied for asylum but was denied and then she received a removal order.
But she also received a withholding of removal. She has a work authorization and has been living and working in California for 13 years. She has been contributing to her community.
ICE apparently does not care about this. They took her from her home, shipped her across the country and put her in a facility in Louisiana. And then they made her disappear from the database so no one could find her.
This is what the Trump administration means by “public safety.” They are detaining a nurse. A teacher. A caregiver. And then hiding her from her family.
The people who should be detained are criminals. People who pose a threat, not Ann Lawani.
The federal government should release her immediately and they should apologize to her family, her students, and the patients who depend on her.
