The University of San Francisco has intensified calls for the release of Ann Lawani, a nurse and professor who was detained by immigration agents in September 2026. Eileen Fry-Bowers, dean of the university's nursing school, stated, "She needs to come home."
Lawani, 39, arrived in the US in 2007 and later obtained master's and doctoral degrees in nursing. She currently steers two programs at the University of San Francisco, engaging with nearly 300 students regularly.
Federal immigration officials state Lawani entered the US on a visitor's visa in 2007 and overstayed, receiving a final order of removal in August 2013. However, her lawyer, Natalia Santanna, confirmed the removal order but noted that an immigration judge in the same 2013 order found Lawani would likely face persecution in Nigeria and granted withholding of removal.
Santanna clarified that this grant of withholding of removal is a continuing bar to removal to Nigeria, under which Lawani has lived in the US since 2013. A habeas petition challenging the legality of her detainment is currently pending in California's eastern district court.
Lawmakers, students, and colleagues have expressed concern over Lawani's detention. Congressman Josh Harder raised concerns in late October about the lack of notice before her arrest and the discrepancies in her whereabouts in an online detainee database.