A public health researcher at Johns Hopkins University has been released after being detained by US immigration authorities while boarding a domestic flight, as her lawyer challenged the government’s claim that she had overstayed her visa.
Fatima Ameaka, a 31-year-old researcher from Cameroon, was detained on Tuesday at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport before being transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Virginia, Louisiana and Texas. She was released late on Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Ameaka had overstayed her visa “in violation of our nation’s laws.” Her lawyer, Benjamin Osorio, disputed that account, saying it was “not true” and pointing to immigration documents that he said support her legal status.
Ameaka entered the United States legally in June 2023 on a Fulbright scholarship to study for a master’s degree in public health. After completing the programme, she joined Johns Hopkins University as a research associate in September 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile and colleagues.
Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, where Ameaka worked, said she had come to the US for a “Fulbright degree, and then stayed on with a visa to work in our center.”
A copy of an employment authorisation document provided by Osorio shows it is valid until December 2029.
Osorio also challenged information contained in a DHS detention notice, which stated that Ameaka had entered the United States as a “nonimmigrant crewmember (Sea or Air)” and had remained in the country beyond June 2024 without authorisation.
However, the lawyer said US Customs and Border Protection records show she was admitted on a J-1 student visa. He provided a screenshot that he said supported that claim.
A DHS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy.
According to Osorio, Ameaka later obtained Temporary Protected Status (TPS), after the Biden administration expanded the programme to include Cameroonians because of armed conflict in the country. He said she subsequently applied for asylum.
The Trump administration ended TPS for Cameroon in August 2025, saying the designation was no longer necessary or in the national interest.
Inglesby described Ameaka as “an extremely warm, kind, generous person” and praised her work researching ways to improve public health responses to epidemic diseases.
“She has been an outstanding colleague, she is beloved by all of her co-workers, family, and friends,” he said. “We’re all super worried about her.”
Johns Hopkins said it was supporting Ameaka while declining to comment on the specifics of her case. “The university understands the fear and concern this instills in members of our community,” university spokesperson Doug Donovan said.
A fundraising campaign organised by colleagues raised more than $40,000 to help cover legal costs. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen criticised the detention, writing on social media that Ameaka “came to the US on a Fulbright scholarship” and has “a pending asylum case.” “He said: “She is not the ‘worst of the worst’ & deporting her is not making us safer. We must stand up & speak out.”
Supporters said Ameaka managed to leave two voicemail messages shortly after her arrest. They had expressed concern that she might not receive medication for a chronic medical condition while in custody.
Although friends welcomed her release, they said concerns remain about her immigration case. “I think most people would agree that we probably shouldn’t be detaining people who are here lawfully, are in lawful pending status, have no criminal history and are a productive member of society,” Osorio said.