# SF professor vacuumed into abyss after ICE arrest

> Nurse and professor Ann Lawani remains detained in Louisiana after ICE arrest without explanation.
- Title: SF professor vacuumed into abyss after ICE arrest · Sfgate
- Summary: Nurse and professor Ann Lawani remains detained in Louisiana after ICE arrest without explanation.
- Keywords: ann lawani, ice detention, university of san francisco, nursing program, asylum seeker, federal immigration, habeas corpus, louisiana, Sfgate
- Source: Sfgate — https://sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ice-california-nurse-louisiana-22527203.php
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: ann lawani, ice detention, university of san francisco, nursing program, asylum seeker, federal immigration, habeas corpus, louisiana, news, local
## Arrest and initial detention
Ann Lawani, a 39-year-old nurse and professor, was arrested outside her Northern California home on Sept 16 without explanation or warrant.

> She opened her garage after spotting officers on her security camera, only to be arrested by Immigration Customs and Enforcement
## Detention transfer process
ICE transferred Lawani through four facilities starting from Bakersfield, shackling her ankles, waist and hands.

> Over the course of the next few days, ICE agents transferred her through four facilities
## Attorney's struggle to locate
Lawani's attorney Natalia Vieira Santanna said her location did not appear in ICE's system for three days after arrest.

> Her location did not show up the day she was detained. It did not show up the next day or the following day
## ICE policy change
ICE stopped displaying detainee locations in public searches after a Sept 15 policy change, removing 32% of detainees from public searches.

> The database, which previously allowed families and attorneys to find people in federal immigration custody, stopped displaying the whereabouts of most detainees
## Legal status and asylum
Lawani arrived in the US in 2007 on a visitor visa, applied for asylum within a year, and received protection from deportation to Nigeria in 2013.

> In 2013, an immigration judge denied her asylum request but granted her protection from deportation to Nigeria
## University impact
USF nursing program, which Lawani oversees, faces disruptions with 230 students and 51 faculty members affected.

> Her continued absence causes real and mounting harm to the students and faculty who rely on her mentorship
## Court ruling
US District Judge Daniel Calabretta rejected ICE's attempt to move Lawani's case to Louisiana and barred deportation while her petition is pending.

> The judge found that 'no diligent attorney could have known' Lawani's whereabouts when the petition was filed
## Family and political pressure
Lawani's brother condemned her detention as 'EVIL and consequential' and lawmakers demand her release under supervision.

> For someone that vital to the community to be tracked, abruptly vacuumed into an abyss and moved across the country, is simply EVIL and consequential
## Key takeaway

Ann Lawani, a USF nursing professor, remains in Louisiana ICE detention nearly two months after being arrested without explanation, despite having legal protections against deportation to Nigeria.