ICE releases Johns Hopkins researcher detained while boarding flight

A public health researcher at Johns Hopkins University who was arrested by immigration officials while boarding a domestic flight has been released after spending multiple days in federal custody across three different states.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Fatima Ameaka, who is originally from Cameroon, on Tuesday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The federal agency wrote in a statement Thursday that she had overstayed a visa. As of Friday morning, she had been transferred from a detention center in Virginia to one in Louisiana.

Her arrest was despite a pending application for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, another subset of the Department of Homeland Security, according to her attorney Benjamin Osorio.

Ameaka has a valid work authorization, which asylum applicants are eligible for after their application has been pending for 180 days, according to Osorio. She had also previously been granted Temporary Protected Status.

ICE released her from a facility in Harlingen, Texas on Friday night, Osorio said, and took her to a nearby hotel. Hopkins colleagues are flying to Texas on Saturday to pick her up, he said.

Representatives from ICE and DHS could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesperson for Johns Hopkins could also not immediately be reached.

While in custody, ICE issued her an Aug. 10 date in immigration court in Annandale, Virginia, according to her attorney, though she may be issued a new date and location now that she’s released.

Ameaka was the second known person associated with Baltimore-area universities to be detained by ICE in recent weeks. Immigration agents arrested Berhanu Kibret, a University of Maryland School of Pharmacy instructor who had just been named “teacher of the year,” while he was returning to Baltimore from a conference in Texas July 21.

This article could be updated