Maine Medical Center nurse released by ICE
Nurses at Maine Medical Center protest Wednesday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Debora Kapisha, a registered nurse, while she was traveling through Logan Airport in Boston. Kapisha was released from ICE custody Thursday, according to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and a Maine nurses union. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
A Maine Medical Center nurse who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Boston airport is out of custody and on her way home to Maine one day after her colleagues held a protest demanding her release.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and the Maine State Nurses Association announced the release of Debora Kapisha, a registered nurse at the hospital, on Thursday.
Kapisha was detained by ICE last week while traveling through Boston Logan International Airport, according to the nurses union. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that Kapisha was apprehended July 30 for allegedly overstaying a visa that expired in November 2024.
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Maine Medical Center nurses protest colleague’s ICE detention
Nurses protested outside Maine Medical Center in Portland on Wednesday to bring awareness to their colleague’s detention and advocate for her release.
“We knew we had to take action, first to stop her from being transferred out of New England while in custody, but also to demand her release,” Kelli Brennan, a registered nurse at Maine Med and nurse leader with the union, said in a statement Thursday following Kapisha’s release.
At the protest, Kapisha’s co-workers described her as a kind and compassionate woman who worked hard to earn a nursing degree. More than 100 people, including nurses and community advocates, gathered to call for her release.
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Kapisha, who is from Zambia in southern Africa, is an asylum seeker who is legally authorized to work in the country, the nurses union says.
The union plans to hold a news conference about Kapisha’s release along Portland’s Western Promenade, near Maine Medical Center, at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Pingree noted in her announcement of Kapisha’s release that it can take years for asylum cases to run their course.
“Debora followed the law to apply for asylum the legal way,” Pingree said in a social media post. “Just because our immigration system is broken doesn’t mean we should punish innocent people — especially those working on the front lines of our health care system.”
Meg Sinclair, center, an emergency department nurse, joins others at a Maine Medical Center protest Wednesday calling for the release of registered nurse Debora Kapisha. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
MaineHealth said that it provided support to Kapisha’s attorneys and contacted Maine’s congressional delegation to request assistance with her case.
“We are grateful to Maine’s congressional delegation and to all of those who worked to ensure that our care team member could return to her family and to her colleagues at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Portland,” hospital Chief Operating Officer Matt Wolden said in a news release Thursday. “We take care to ensure that everyone who works for us is legally authorized to do so and are glad that immigration authorities were able to clear up this case quickly.”
Puneet Maharaj, executive director of National Nurses United, said in a written statement that Kapisha’s release “is a testament to the power of organized nurses.”
“Nurses in Maine found out one of their own was locked up and sprung into action to get her out,” Maharaj said.
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Tagged: ICE, immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, maine medical center
Drew is the night reporter for the Portland Press Herald. He previously covered South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth for the Sentry, Leader and Southern Forecaster. Though he is from Massachusetts,. More by Drew Johnson
