University of San Francisco officials and even a member of Congress are demanding answers after a professor was arrested by ICE agents two months ago and has remained incarcerated since then — despite having a valid work permit.
NBC Bay Area reports that Dr. Ann Lawani, described as “a highly regarded Bay Area nurse and USF professor,” is currently being held in a federal immigration detention center on Louisiana.
A native of Nigeria, Dr. Lawani has been a resident of the United States for 21 years under a still-valid work permit.
A Congressman Is Demanding Her Release
Colleagues tell NBC Bay Area that Lawani was picked up by ICE agents eight weeks ago, initially held at a detention center in Stockton, California before being transported to another facility in El Paso, Texas, and then to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
Lawani’s arrest and detention have sparked outrage among the community, and Congressman Josh Harder (D-Calif.) is demanding her release.
“Dr. Lawani has spent her entire career in service to our community, and ICE shows up on her doorstep while her elderly father is asleep in the home, whisks her away from her family, and then transports her across the entire part of the country,” said Harder.
According the to the California congressman, Lawani had previously been granted a legal status known as “withholding of removal,” due to a threat of being persecuted in her native Nigeria, which has allowed her to legally live and work in the U.S. He has issued a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin insisting that Lawani be immediately freed and returned to her home in California.
“This goes against everything ICE has publicly said,” Harder explained. “They’re saying they are keeping our community safe and prioritizing folks who are threatening public safety. This is exactly the opposite.”
Colleagues Are ‘Shocked’ and ‘Angry’
To her colleagues, Dr. Lawani isn’t just a co-worker, but a heroic healthcare professional with a reputation for going above and beyond for her patients, with a speciality in palliative and hospice care. Those colleagues — both in the university and at the hospitals where she’s contributed — have likewise expressed outrage over the arrest of a renowned figure who oversees the master’s nursing program at USF while spending weekends working in the cardiovascular stroke unit at John Muir Health.
“I’m shocked. I’m angry. Here’s a person who has committed herself to caring for others. In fact, the most vulnerable, in that her specialty is palliative and hospice care, and yet she’s in this situation now. I find it unfathomable,” said Eileen Fry-Bowers, dean of the USF School of Nursing.
“I’m appalled that an individual like Dr. Lawani is in this circumstance. She’s one of the finest nurses that I know,” Fry-Bowers added. “I get really upset thinking Ann is alone right now in a place where she’s not safe, and she needs to come home to us.”
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to the news outlet’s request for comment; as of Friday, November 13, Dr. Lawani remains in ICE custody in Louisiana.
Dr. Ann Lawani: Nurse & University of San Francisco Professor Detained by ICE