Key Facts

• Lawani is a Nigerian national who entered the United States on a temporary visa in 2007 and stayed after her authorized period ended, according to DHS.
• Lawani applied for asylum within a year of arriving in the United States, her attorney said.
• An immigration judge denied Lawani’s asylum application in 2013 but granted withholding of removal to Nigeria, according to her attorney; that protection can block deportation to a country where a person is likely to face persecution but does not grant permanent residency.
• DHS said Lawani received due process, has a final removal order from 2013, and will remain in ICE custody pending removal.
• Lawani works as a nurse at John Muir Health and teaches at the University of San Francisco, where she oversees a master’s nursing program.
• Lawani’s attorney filed a federal habeas corpus petition challenging her detention on September 18.
• On September 29, a federal judge rejected DHS’s request to move the case to Louisiana, barred Lawani’s removal while the case proceeds, and ordered DHS to explain why she should not be released.
• Lawani’s family said it could not locate her in ICE’s online detainee locator during her transfers and learned she was in Louisiana after she called her brother.