Key facts
- Eileen Fry-Bowers, dean of the University of San Francisco nursing school, said Lawani "needs to come home."
- DHS said Lawani overstayed a 2007 visitor's visa and was issued a final removal order in August 2013.
- Lawani's lawyer said the 2013 order also granted withholding of removal, barring removal to Nigeria.
- A habeas petition challenging Lawani's detention is pending in California's eastern district court, her lawyer said.
- Representative Josh Harder wrote to DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin in late October 2026 questioning the detention.
The University of San Francisco's nursing school has increased calls for the release of Ann Lawani, a nurse and professor detained by immigration agents in September 2026, nearly two months before the report dated November 13, 2026. Eileen Fry-Bowers, dean of the nursing school, said Lawani "needs to come home."
Lawani, 39, came to the US in 2007 and earned a master's and doctoral degree in nursing before moving into academia. She runs two programs at the university, including a master's entry program for students without nursing backgrounds and a bachelor's program for students seeking work in public health safety-net institutions. Fry-Bowers said Lawani works with almost 300 students.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Lawani entered on a visitor's visa in 2007 and overstayed it, and that she was issued a final order of removal in August 2013. Natalia Santanna, Lawani's lawyer, confirmed the removal order but called DHS's account "incomplete." Santanna said Lawani applied for asylum within a year of arriving and that the same 2013 order found she would more likely than not face persecution in Nigeria and granted withholding of removal, which Santanna described as a continuing bar to removal to Nigeria.
Santanna said a habeas petition challenging the legality of the detention is pending in California's eastern district court. Lawani has been moved between detention centers in California, Texas and Louisiana, according to the report.
Josh Harder, the congressman representing Lawani's district, wrote to DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin in late October 2026, citing the lack of notice before her arrest and the absence of her whereabouts from an online detainee database. Harder wrote that there was "no apparent public safety justification" for holding her far from home while her case proceeds.
Casey Murray, a nursing science graduate student, said her class has 37 days left until graduation and that Lawani supported students until her arrest. Fry-Bowers cited Lawani's work with hospice and palliative care patients.