ICE sought to move nun to third country, attorney says
Ugboaja was detained on June 28 as she walked to Our Lady of Sorrows Church carrying only her rosary and cellphone. She said she did not understand what was happening in the moment but later described begging the arresting officers to let her attend Mass.
“For me, a nun, not to go to Mass on Sunday, not to receive Communion, it was very, very heartbreaking for me,” she said.
Ugboaja, a registered nurse at South Texas Health System who previously worked 10 years as a certified nursing assistant, also volunteers as an extraordinary minister of holy communion. She is a member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy.
Her attorney, Carlos Garcia, who sat beside her at the news conference, said Ugboaja had been granted protection from removal to Nigeria by an immigration judge in 2019 after her asylum application was denied. The judge found she would likely be tortured if returned to Nigeria, Garcia said. He said Ugboaja has complied with all requirements of her immigration case and was authorized to work in the United States.
Garcia said ICE gave no explanation for why she was taken into custody but that the U.S. planned to remove her to a third country. The Trump administration’s use of third-country removal agreements has drawn criticism from attorneys and human rights groups and faced legal challenges. The Department of Homeland Security has said the agreements allow people seeking asylum to pursue protection in another country and help address immigration court backlogs.
Ugboaja was released several hours after her detention after parish officials posted about the arrest on social media and members of Congress intervened on her behalf.
While grateful for the intervention, Ugboaja said, that “does not mean I can stay quiet about what happened to me, or about what is still happening to others.”
She said many others with some form of legal protection face the same uncertainty. “There are many others in this same situation, people who have been given some form of protection under our laws, who have followed every rule asked of them, and who still live with uncertainty,” she said.
Ugboaja has a scheduled check-in appointment with ICE on Tuesday. Her case has drawn attention as the Trump administration continues immigration enforcement that includes arrests at sensitive locations such as houses of worship.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to requests for comment on Ugboaja’s case Thursday or after her detention in June.