July 30, 2026

ICE detained Maine nurse with legal work authorization at Boston's Logan Airport, planned transfer to Louisiana

On July 30, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Debora Kapisha, a Maine Medical Center nurse with a pending asylum claim, at Boston's Logan International Airport; her employer and union said she held legal work authorization, while DHS said she had overstayed a visa. The union said ICE planned to transfer her from Massachusetts to a detention facility in Louisiana. Kapisha was released from ICE custody on August 6 following public pressure from coworkers and her union.

Jurisdiction: Federal
Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Abuses documented

Actors

On July 30, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Debora Kapisha, a Maine Medical Center nurse with a pending asylum claim, while she was traveling through Boston's Logan International Airport. Kapisha, a medical-surgical nurse originally from Zambia, is a member of the Maine State Nurses Association; the union and her employer, MaineHealth, said she held legal work authorization while her asylum case was pending. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said she had overstayed a visa; ICE separately told a Portland television station that Kapisha entered the country legally in 2024 on a five-month visa but "failed to depart" before it expired. The union said ICE planned to transfer Kapisha from Massachusetts, where she was held, to a detention facility in Louisiana.

MaineHealth said in a statement that it vets all employees for legal work authorization and that it was concerned "especially given that this individual appears to have been living and working here legally." The union linked the detention to a broader immigration-enforcement surge in Maine that it said has left hospital staff and patients afraid and produced staffing shortages, and called on MaineHealth to help Kapisha secure permanent legal status.

Updates

2026-08-05 — Coworkers rallied demanding Kapisha's release [1, 3]

More than 100 Maine Medical Center nurses and supporters rallied in Portland demanding Kapisha's release. Union co-president Kelli Brennan said the detention was "about stripping our friends and neighbors of their dignity, their safety, and any ability they have to comfortably live their lives."

2026-08-06 — Kapisha released from ICE custody [2]

ICE released Kapisha from custody. In a statement read the next day at a National Nurses United news conference, she said she was "so thankful to be home and can't wait to return to my co-workers and patients."

Why we recorded this

Due process in immigration enforcement requires the government to honor a person's legal status while removal or asylum proceedings are pending, not detain them and move them away from their support network on the strength of a disputed status claim. ICE detained a Maine nurse whose employer and union say held legal work authorization while her asylum case was pending, and planned to transfer her to a facility in Louisiana, far from the counsel and community that could contest DHS's contrary "overstayed a visa" account. This archive records the detention because relocating someone with a pending, contested legal claim before that claim is resolved undermines the process the immigration system is supposed to provide.

Sources

MaineHealth nurses demand release of colleague arrested by ICE — Maine Public primary accessed August 11, 2026
Maine surgical nurse released from immigration detention following outcry — NBC News primary accessed August 11, 2026
ICE detains hospital nurse, prompting protests from coworkers calling for her release — WMTW (via 13abc) secondary accessed August 11, 2026