{"id":803851,"date":"2026-08-05T20:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/803851\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:08:10","slug":"nurses-at-maine-medical-center-organize-protest-after-ice-detained-colleague","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/803851\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurses at Maine Medical Center organize protest after ICE detained colleague"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Maine (WGME) — Nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland are demanding that ICE release one of their colleagues after they say she was detained last week.<\/p>\n

According to the National Nurses Organizing Committee, ICE agents took Debora Kapisha into custody at Boston Logan International Airport on July 30.<\/p>\n

Kapisha is a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center.<\/p>\n

The Maine State Nurses Association says Kapisha is from Zambia and is legally authorized to live and work in the United States while her asylum case is pending.<\/p>\n

The National Nurses Organizing Committee held an emergency protest Wednesday morning calling for Kapisha’s release.<\/p>\n

The nurses’ union is also urging Maine Medical Center to formally sponsor Kapisha for permanent residency.<\/p>\n

MaineHealth officials says all individuals who come to work at MaineHealth are thoroughly vetted to assure they are authorized to reside and work in the United States.<\/p>\n

MaineHealth says it did hear from the nurse\u2019s attorneys and is providing the appropriate support as they work to secure her release.<\/p>\n

“We have also reached out to our congressional delegation to see if they can provide any further information about this care team member\u2019s status,” said Britt Crewse, president of MaineHealth\u2019s Southern Region, which includes MaineHealth Maine Medical Center. “Needless to say, we are concerned, especially given that this individual appears to have been living and working here legally.”<\/p>\n

\"Maine<\/p>\n

Maine Med nurses are demanding that ICE release one of their colleagues after they say she was detained last week. (WGME)<\/p>\n

Crewse said he is also concerned about the impact this could have on other care team members who happen to be immigrants.<\/p>\n

“We take great care in making sure everyone who comes to work for us is legally authorized to do so,” he said. “Nevertheless, the enforcement surge by immigration authorities has many of our care team members on edge.”<\/p>\n

ICE issued a statement about Kapisha’s detainment, saying in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn July 30, 2026, ICE arrested Debora Kapisha, an illegal alien from Zambia. Kapisha entered our country on May 14, 2024, on a visa that was set to expire on November 13, 2024. She failed to depart before this date in violation of our nation\u2019s immigration laws. She will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of her removal proceedings. She will receive full due process. Any pending application does not confer legal status.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Maine (WGME) — Nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland are demanding that ICE release one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-803851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}