\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/43735511_202600805_nurses_8.jpg\")
\t\t\tNurses 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)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Nurses protested outside Maine Medical Center<\/a> in Portland on Wednesday to bring awareness to their colleague\u2019s detention and advocate for her release. <\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d Kelli Brennan, a registered nurse at Maine Med and nurse leader with the union, said in a statement Thursday following Kapisha\u2019s release.<\/p>\n At the protest, Kapisha\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The union plans to hold a news conference about Kapisha\u2019s release along Portland\u2019s Western Promenade, near Maine Medical Center, at 11:30 a.m. Friday.<\/p>\n Pingree noted in her announcement of Kapisha\u2019s release that it can take years for asylum cases to run their course.<\/p>\n \u201cDebora followed the law to apply for asylum the legal way,\u201d Pingree said in a social media post. \u201cJust because our immigration system is broken doesn\u2019t mean we should punish innocent people \u2014 especially those working on the front lines of our health care system.\u201d<\/p>\n Purchase this image<\/a><\/p>\n MaineHealth said that it provided support to Kapisha\u2019s attorneys and contacted Maine\u2019s congressional delegation to request assistance with her case.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are grateful to Maine\u2019s 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,\u201d hospital Chief Operating Officer Matt Wolden said in a news release Thursday. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Puneet Maharaj, executive director of National Nurses United, said in a written statement that Kapisha\u2019s release \u201cis a testament to the power of organized nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNurses in Maine found out one of their own was locked up and sprung into action to get her out,\u201d Maharaj said. <\/p>\n This is a developing story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nurses at Maine Medical Center protest Wednesday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Debora Kapisha, a registered nurse,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-805516","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\/805516","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=805516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/43735511_202600805_nurses_5.jpg\")
<\/a>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)<\/p>\n