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ICE detains Maine Medical Center nurse, prompting protest

By CNN

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    PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) — Nurses at Maine Medical Center held a protest outside the Portland hospital Wednesday morning, as they continue to call for the release of a colleague who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Maine’s Total Coverage has confirmed that Debora Kapisha, a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center, is in ICE custody. The Maine State Nurses Association said ICE agents detained Kapisha on Thursday, July 30, while she was traveling through Boston Logan International Airport.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that Kapisha was arrested by ICE on Thursday.

“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’s immigration laws. She will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of her removal proceedings. She will receive full due process,” the DHS spokesperson said in a statement shared with Maine’s Total Coverage.

Kapisha works as a medical-surgical nurse at Maine Medical Center. The union said Kapisha, who is from Zambia, is legally authorized to live and work in the United States while her asylum case is pending. Maine’s Total Coverage has not independently verified details of her immigration status.

“Any pending application does not confer legal status,” the DHS spokesperson said in their statement.

The union said ICE planned to transfer Kapisha from Massachusetts to Louisiana, but said Thursday that will not be the case. Kapisha’s attorneys and union representatives are seeking her release and trying to prevent the transfer.

“Debora is an amazing nurse and takes great care of her patients,” said Abigail Nelson, a registered nurse who works with Kapisha. “She is a kind and supportive coworker. We are like a family here, and it feels like a piece of us is missing.”

The nurses are also calling on Maine Medical Center to sponsor Kapisha for permanent residency.

MaineHealth said Wednesday that it has contacted members of Maine’s congressional delegation in an effort to get more information about Kapisha’s status.

MaineHealth officials said all individuals who come to work at MaineHealth are thoroughly vetted to assure they are authorized to reside and work in the United States. MaineHealth officials said they received no notice that Kapisha was taken into custody and have been provided no information by immigration officials as to her current whereabouts or the status of her case. MaineHealth officials said they did hear from Kapisha’s attorneys and that they are providing the appropriate support as the attorneys work to secure her release.

“Needless to say, we are concerned, especially given that this individual appears to have been living and working here legally,” Britt Crewse, president of MaineHealth’s Southern Region, which includes Maine Medical Center, said in a statement.

Crewse said he is also concerned about the impact this could have on other MaineHealth care team members who happen to be immigrants.

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

The DHS spokesperson noted that the United States is offering $2,600 to all people who are in the country illegally, as well as a free flight to self-deport.

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Trump needs to get tough on China to get tough on Iran’s economy. He’s been reluctant to do that

By CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration appears to have landed on a fallback strategy in the Iran war after military strikes and negotiations failed to deliver victory: threats of harsh economic sanctions.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called them the “toughest sanctions in history,” which will “collapse this regime.” He’s even called it an “economic D-Day” for Iran, comparing it to the historic invasion of Nazi-occupied France during World War II.There’s just one problem: Making good on those tough words requires not just getting tough on Iran, but also getting tough on China, which is Tehran’s No. 1 trading partner.And Trump and his administration have proved quite reluctant to do that.When Bessent rolled out the economic strategy Monday, he didn’t name specific countries that would be punished — or lay out timelines — if they don’t cut ties. And the announcement notably did not include secondary sanctions on the large Chinese banks that facilitate Beijing’s purchases from Iran.China buys as much as 90% of Iran’s oil. Economic analysts have told CNN that targeting these banks and Chinese companies would be crucial to exacting a major toll on Iran’s economy.But not for the first time in recent days, Bessent punted on exactly what would be done on that front. He suggested messages were being sent — saying “no one is above the reach of US sanctions” — but didn’t detail what will happen with China.“If they facilitate transactions and are part of the ecosystem that turns Iranian oil into money, into repression, they will be targeted,” Bessent said. “We find that the best way to engage with countries is through quiet diplomacy.”He added: “So when the hammer of US Treasury actions falls upon them, they will have no one to blame but themselves.”But you could be forgiven for thinking this might be lots of sound and fury signifying relatively little.That’s because not only has the administration regularly backed off the threats it’s made in the Iran war, but it has a track record of treading gently around China, whose leader, Xi Jinping, is set to visit the White House next month.While Trump has made a big show about getting tough on China over the years, he backed off his trade war with Beijing in October, agreeing to a one-year truce. That followed shortly after Beijing upped its leverage by restricting access to critical rare-earth minerals and halting purchases of American soybeans.Trump last year also ignored federal law to help save the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, despite his first administration having labeled it a grave national security threat because of its ability to spy on Americans.Fast forward to Trump’s visit to China in May, and rather than pressing Xi publicly on a potential invasion of Taiwan, Trump made some major Taiwan-related rhetorical concessions.He also backed off his previous promises to get China to free Jimmy Lai, a former Hong Kong media tycoon who criticized the Chinese Community Party, as well as to ban Beijing from buying American farmland and to “aggressively” revoke Chinese student visas.By July, Trump delivered a primetime address in which he claimed China effectively interfered in the 2020 US election (which is not what the evidence actually showed). But rather than punish China for this seemingly major purported provocation, Trump downplayed the need for retaliation.The president seemed to prefer to use China to try to substantiate his still-baseless claims of stolen elections, without going to the trouble of holding the alleged thief accountable.And even in the context of the Iran war, Trump has been gentle with China.He has repeatedly shrugged off the idea that Beijing is helping Iran. And on his way back from China in May, he said he was considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies that buy Iranian oil.Trump at the time was trying to secure a deal with Iran. But it’s telling that he’s been willing to telegraph potential carrots involving China, even as his administration is reluctant to publicly threaten to use the stick against it. In the latter case, it prefers “quiet diplomacy.”Also telling would seem to be Bessent’s comments Monday when CNN asked why the major secondary sanctions he previewed didn’t start immediately.“Well, we are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,” he said. “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?”The administration appears well aware that getting tough on Iran would entail going after China — a risk that it might decide isn’t worth it.There’s an argument to be made that these topics are best addressed next month, during Xi’s state visit to Washington.But such pomp and circumstance can drain Trump of his resolve to get tough (as seen during his May visit to China) — and that’s if he even wants to get tough on China right now.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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