STOCKTON, Calif. — The Executive Board of Stockton Democrats Together calls on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Dr. Ann Lawani, return her to her family in Lodi, and ensure she has access to her lawyers and family while her case continues.
Dr. Lawani has lived in Lodi for 13 years and cares for her 83-year-old father. She teaches nursing at the University of San Francisco, and Rep. Josh Harder’s office says she also works as a nurse at John Muir Health.
On Sept. 16, federal immigration agents detained her at her home. She called her family once from a local holding facility, then could not be found on ICE’s public detainee locator. Her family searched for three days before she called them from a detention center in Louisiana. She has now been held for nearly two months.
According to published reports, an immigration judge ruled in 2013 that Dr. Lawani could not be deported to Nigeria because she would more likely than not face persecution there. She has held a federal work permit since 2014, and it is currently valid through 2029. The Department of Homeland Security says she was detained under a 2013 removal order. Rep. Harder says she has no criminal record and that ICE tried to deport her to a third country while she was being transferred.
“Dr. Lawani has spent her career caring for patients and training the nurses our hospitals depend on,” said David Sengthay, President of Stockton Democrats Together. “She followed the rules, she holds a valid work permit, and a judge ruled she could not be sent back to Nigeria. Detaining her doesn’t make anyone safer. It takes a caregiver from her father, a teacher from her students, and a nurse from her patients. We want her home.”
Her detention also shows how hard it has become for families to find loved ones in immigration custody. On Sept. 15, the day before Dr. Lawani’s arrest, ICE stopped publicly disclosing where it holds detainees, according to the Associated Press. Immigration lawyers sued over that policy in late October, arguing that it keeps families and attorneys from reaching people in custody.
No family in San Joaquin County should have to spend days trying to find out whether a loved one is safe.
Stockton Democrats Together:
Calls on ICE to release Dr. Lawani, return her to California while her immigration case is pending, and guarantee her access to legal counsel and her family.
Calls on DHS to restore public information about where detainees are held, so families and attorneys can reach them.
Thanks Rep. Josh Harder and his staff for pressing DHS on her behalf since October.
Urges our members and neighbors to sign the petition for her release started by Dr. Eileen Fry-Bowers, dean of USF's nursing school, which more than 15,000 people have signed.
Urges the Stockton City Council, when it takes up its immigration-enforcement proposals on Dec. 8, to make sure the City's Immigration Response Plan helps families locate detained relatives and connect with legal help.
Stockton Democrats Together stands with Dr. Lawani, her family, and her students, and with every immigrant family in San Joaquin County living with this fear.
