PORTLAND –– Nurses at Maine Medical Center were jubilant Friday as they celebrated one of their own being released from ICE custody.
Ever since Deborah Kapisha, a Zambia native, was detained by ICE agents on July 30 in Boston, nurses with the Maine State Nurses Association have been lobbying for her release, saying she was detained in error. The union represents about 4,000 caregivers statewide, including at MMC.
Kapisha’s release on Thursday came less than 48 hours after the union took its fight public in a rally just outside Maine Medical Center on Wednesday calling for her release. On Friday, the same nurses celebrated victory in another public display of support.
“Let’s give ourselves one big loud round of applause for standing and for fighting and for having faith in ourselves to fight like hell and win this tremendous victory for Deborah and her family and our community,” said Kelli Brennan, a nurse at MMC and co-president of the association.
In a statement, MaineHealth, the parent company of MMC, said officials supported Kapisha’s attorneys to help with her release, and contacted Maine’s congressional delegation on her behalf.
“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,” said MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Portland Chief Operating Officer Matt Wolden. “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.”
Kapisha herself was not present Friday, but another nurse read a written statement on her behalf.
“Thank you all for your love and support,” Kapisha wrote. “I am so thankful to be home and can’t wait to return to my co-workers and patients.”
Meg Sinclair is an emergency room nurse at MMC, and serves as chief nurse representative for the association at the hospital. She said Kapisha works in one of the hospital’s surgical units. Sinclair didn’t know her personally. She said, though, that for her and so many other nurses in the union, knowing Kapisha was a nurse was enough.
“The call to action was easy,” she said. “Nurses stick up for one another.”
Sinclair said she was one of the first to learn yesterday of Kapisha’s release.
“I was at work yesterday when I got the news and I just had to take a minute,” she said. “It was very emotional.”
On Friday, nurses lined up behind several speakers, all the while holding and waving signs with slogans such as “Will crush ICE for our patients!” and “ICE not welcome here!” At one point, Kelli Brennan shouted “When we fight” to the crowd’s response, “We win!”
“That is what community looks like,” she said. “That is what solidarity looks like. That is what democracy looks like.”
It is not clear just why Kapisha was released so quickly. ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment. A statement from an unnamed ICE spokesperson on Wednesday alleged that Kapisha had been in the country on a visa that officially expired in November 2024.
“She will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of her removal proceedings. She will receive full due process,” the spokesperson wrote.
The nurses, however, said that ICE had made a mistake, and on Friday treated Kapisha’s release as a victory for the union.
“None of us knew or expected that things would turn around so quickly, let alone Deborah being freed just a day later, but what we do know is that this would not have happened if we all haven’t had done what we did and brought public attention to this abominable travesty,” said Janel Crowley, an MMC nurse and union steward.