Detained Maine Med nurse released from ICE, returned home

One day after nurses and union members rallied in support of detained Maine Medical Center nurse Debora Kapisha, the union announced Thursday that she was released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is back home.

Union members, local leaders call on MaineHealth to help secure release of detained nurse

“We’re incredibly proud that nurses and the community came together in Portland to advocate for her, and now we need to figure out how to stop ICE,” said Kelli Brennan, a registered at Maine Medical Center in Portland and nurse leader with Maine State Nurses Association, noting that the union was able to organize a rally for within 24 hours of finding out the first year nurse had been detained.

Despite her work authorization, Kapisha was arrested on July 30 while traveling through Boston’s Logan Airport, according to a statement from the union. ICE’s online detainee database no longer shows Kapisha, an asylee and Zambian national, in their system.

The union had called on MaineHealth administrators to take steps to secure her release, including sponsoring her green card. The hospital system said it was in touch with Kapisha’s attorneys and had reached out to Maine’s congressional delegation for support.

“Nurses in Maine found out one of their own was locked up and sprung into action to get her out,” Puneet Maharaj, executive director of National Nurses United, said in a press statement. “Their success is a story of collective action being undeniable, and it’s a model for how we all band together to free everyone from ICE detention and abolish this fascist agency of secret police that is abducting and torturing our neighbors.”