Nigerian-born nurse and university professor, Dr Ann Lawani, has been held by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly two months following her arrest at her home in Lodi, California, on September 16, 2026.\n<\/p>\n
Lawani is the Statewide ME-MSN Programme Director at the University of San Francisco, where she oversees about 230 nursing students.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n She also works as a nurse at John Muir Health, according to a Tuesday report by KQED.\n<\/p>\n A practising registered nurse, Lawani holds a PhD in Nursing from the University of San Diego, a Master of Science in Nursing in Clinical Nurse Leadership from the same institution, and a bachelor\u2019s degree in Healthcare Administration from California State University, Sacramento.<\/p>\n According to her official profile on the University of San Francisco website, her clinical experience includes caring for patients with cardiopulmonary conditions, stroke, cystic fibrosis and orthopaedic conditions in acute care and hospice settings.\n<\/p>\n Her research focuses on palliative care, healthcare use among patients with advanced cancer, care for chronically ill older adults and end-of-life transitions.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n The university also says she mentors first-generation nursing students and promotes diversity and health equity in the nursing profession.<\/p>\n Lawani was arrested by ICE agents at her Lodi home on September 16 and initially taken to a detention facility in Stockton, California.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She was subsequently transferred through other facilities, including El Paso, Texas, before being moved to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Centre, where she remains detained, according to NBC Bay Area.\n<\/p>\n Her immigration case dates back to 2007, when she entered the US on a visitor visa and later applied for asylum.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security said her asylum application was denied in 2013 and that an immigration judge issued a final order of removal on August 6 of that year.\n<\/p>\n However, her lawyer, Natalia Vieira Santanna, told KCRA 3 that the judge also granted Lawani withholding of removal to Nigeria after finding that she was more likely than not to face persecution if returned to the country.\n<\/p>\n Santanna said the ruling prevented the government from removing her client to Nigeria. She also told KCRA that Lawani\u2019s work permit remains valid until April 2029. <\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security, however, said in a statement to KCRA 3, \u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The department added, \u201cWork authorisation does not confer legal status in the U.S.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Lawani\u2019s detention has prompted calls for her release from her family, university colleagues, nurses\u2019 union and elected officials.\n<\/p>\n Her brother, Samuel Lawani, told KCRA 3, \u201cTo simply put it, she is a lifesaver.\u201d He also said, \u201cI will move the earth if possible to make sure she gets out of there.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The dean of the University of San Francisco\u2019s School of Nursing and Health Professions, Eileen Fry-Bowers, said Lawani\u2019s absence was affecting students and the institution\u2019s work.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHer continued absence causes real and mounting harm to the students and faculty who rely on her mentorship, to our accreditation-mandated curriculum work, and to the safety-net partnerships she has built,\u201d Fry-Bowers said, according to KQED.\n<\/p>\n The National Nurses United, in a statement issued on Wednesday, called for Lawani\u2019s immediate release and return home.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAnn Lawani represents the best of us: a hardworking, dedicated nurse who committed herself fully to her education and profession and is beloved by her patients, her students, and her community,\u201d the union said.<\/p>\n The union also urged John Muir Health and the University of San Francisco to use their influence to secure her release.\n<\/p>\n United States Congressman Josh Harder has also asked the Department of Homeland Security to release Lawani and return her to California while her case proceeds.\n<\/p>\n In a statement issued on November 10, Harder said, \u201cGiven 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.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Harder\u2019s office also said he had written to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin seeking information about her proposed country of removal and the basis for her continued detention.\n<\/p>\n Source: <\/p>\n Nigerian-born nurse and university professor, Dr Ann Lawani, has been held by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly two months following her arrest at her home in Lodi,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}