Bay Area nurse detained at ICE check-in, deported to Kenya after 20 years
Sep 14, 2026·Location: San Francisco, CA
Country of origin: Kenya

Maureen Wanjiru Ngure, a 38-year-old public health nurse from Concord, California, was detained by ICE on August 14 during a routine check-in at the federal immigration office in San Francisco. Ngure came to the U.S. from Kenya in 2006 on a visitor's visa, became a nurse, married, had two children, and volunteered with Contra Costa County's COVID-19 response team, never missing a check-in in nearly two decades. She and her husband, Peter Mang'ara Muchendu, both U.S. citizens raising their children in the Bay Area, had been planning to relocate the family to Canada after she was offered a healthcare job there. Following her detention, she was transferred through facilities in California, Arizona, and Louisiana, at times sleeping on floors and losing her ID, phone, and wallet. She was served a third-country deportation order and ultimately deported to Kenya. "I felt depressed, I felt confused, I was asking the question: why," Ngure said.
Timeline
Sources
- Urgent Action Appeal — Friends of La Pena Immigration Rights
- At Least 4 People ‘Vanished’ by ICE Agents in Concord Home Depot Parking Lot, Advocates Say
- A Concord Nurse Told ICE She Had No Criminal Record. She Was Detained Anyway – Idaho Public Press
- Bring Maureen Home | Support Maureen Wanjiru Ngure
bring-maureen-home.vercel.app·Sep 14, 2026
- ICE Deported Longtime Nurse to Kenya After She Overstayed Her Student Visa, Federal Officials Say
ibtimes.co.uk·Sep 30, 2026
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