National Nurses United

T he shocking news hit everyone's phones Monday night, Aug. 3, 2026 via Maine Medical Center union nurses' group WhatsApp chat: One of their fellow nurses, a medical- surgical nephrology unit RN named Debora Kapisha, had been kidnapped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while traveling through Portland International Jetport the previous week. Kapisha, 28, was legally in the country and had authorization to live and work here in the United States until 2030 while she was waiting for her asylum case from Zambia to process. But Trump's deportation machine didn't care. Kapisha was being held in Massachusetts and, according to her family and attor- neys, was about to be shipped off to a detention center in Louisiana where she would be far from her family, friends, and legal counsel. Maine Medical Center (MMC) nurses basically called a code and immediately launched into action. It was all hands on deck: nurses, union staff, union legal counsel. Nurses agreed they would do anything and everything to prevent her transfer and get her released. MMC nurses, who unionized in 2021, reactivated their extensive phone trees to inform colleagues about Kapisha and ask them to write letters of support to the court. Within hours, Kapisha's coworkers had written more than a hun- dred letters attesting to what an exemplary nurse and person she is. "She's a valued member of our community, of our hospital," said Meg Sinclair, an MMC RN leader. "Her patients love her. Her coworkers love her. She's just a very kind and loving person. She's been in this country saving American lives." MMC nurses also decided to hold a protest near the hospital on Wednesday morning, Aug. 5, to demand her release. Nurses not only used their own phone trees to publicize the protest, but tapped into their extensive community and political social networks to invite neighbors, allies in the immigration rights and civil rights commu- nities, local, state, and federal elected officials and candidates, including Troy Jackson and Hannah Pingree, and all concerned cit- izens. Within 18 hours, MMC nurses convened more than 200 people on the Western Promenade and all the local news media out- lets. "The unit Debora works on historically hasn't had a ton of union activity," said Sinclair. "But the second that they heard about [the protest], these nurses reached out and were willing to stand here in front of dozens and dozens of cameras—something they've never done before and is a really scary thing to do—and speak up on her behalf. They felt emboldened to do so because of the strength that anticipate problems in renewing work authorization under the Trump administration and secured language that protected nurses' positions by preserving their "recall" rights. UC nurses whose work authorization expired would not face immediate termination and would keep their seniority, schedule, and other aspects of their employment. A couple of UC DACA nurses had similarly suffered delayed renewals, but because they were clearly protected by con- tract language, they did not face the same panic as the Kaiser nurse. But just like how union nurses can set and raise the bar for all nurses, Kaiser Nurse One's case changed protections for other DACA nurses working within the Kaiser system. As a result of this fight, Kaiser signed on May 26, 2026 a letter of agreement that proffers reinstatement rights for seniority, sick leave, and education leave for up to a year in case a nurse is terminated due to a delay in work authorization processing. More than 25,000 Kaiser nurses are also currently bargaining for a new master contract this year, and they will be negotiating for additional language and protections for nurse members subject to work permit renewals. Besides the letter of agreement, Kaiser Nurse One's case did have an immediate impact on other DACA nurses in the Kaiser system. A different nurse, we'll call her Kaiser Nurse Two, who worked at a facility across the bay was having the same exact problem: her DACA renewal was delayed. Because the first nurse ultimately received a total of 60 days of unpaid leave, the second nurse auto- matically also received 60 days. It would be barely enough. Kaiser Nurse Two is originally from South America and has built a fulfilling career and life for herself here in the United States. A nurse for 10 years, she ended up marrying a U.S. citizen, bought a house with her spouse, and is also expecting their first child after some struggles to get pregnant. But what should have been a purely joyful time for her was marred by extreme stress after her DACA renewal was significantly delayed. Her situation was also compli- cated because she was unclear if her health care benefits—which were absolutely critical for her prenatal care—would be interrupted during her time on unpaid leave, and the months that she was not working meant she might not be able to accrue the needed hours to qualify for parental leave and pay. Her managers were indifferent and of no help to her in figuring out answers to her questions, much less advocating for her and thinking of alternative ways she could avoid termination. Finally, her physical DACA renewal card came with only a couple of days to spare before the end of her 60 days. She was able to return to work in early July. "It's been a nightmare," she said. "As an immigrant, it's frustrat- ing. This is impacting a lot of people and we are truly suffering. We need to open up pathways for us to get citizenship." —Lucia Hwang SAVING ONE OF OUR OWN How Maine nurses overcame the odds and successfully won release of a coworker kidnapped by ICE "I think when something like this happens, it really hits home for people and they can see that it's not just something that happens on the news to 'the worst of the worst.' It's actually something that is affecting us. And if it happens to someone like this particular nurse, any one of us could be next." J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 25 Debora Kapisha, RN

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