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Federal immigration officers are increasingly appearing at California healthcare centers as the Trump administration intensifies its deportation efforts.
They might arrive at the emergency room, carrying an individual experiencing a medical emergency while in custody. They could wait in the lobby, as agents did for two weeks. at an L.A.-area hospital awaiting the release of a woman. Or they might even pursue individuals inside, as federal agents did at a Southern California surgical facility.
The appearance of these agents—typically armed and masked—causes many to be cautious and could prevent individuals from accessing medical assistance.
Current hospital protocols direct procedures when law enforcement delivers an individual who is arrested, according to hospital representatives.
“This isn’t anything new for hospitals,” stated Lois Richardson, vice president and attorney at the California Hospital Association. “We frequently have inmates, detainees, and individuals who have been arrested, whether it’s from the police, sheriff’s department, highway patrol, ICE, or any other agency.” She noted that the responsibility of hospital staff is to deliver care, and not to engage in arguments regarding why someone is being held.
However, immigration lawyers, activists, and healthcare professionals have raised worries about how certain cases are being managed, both by immigration officials and some staff at medical institutions.
More specifically, they are concerned with the implementation of procedures such as visitation policies, fears regarding patients’ legal and confidentiality rights, and dangers faced by hospital staff.
We have a standard of privacy that is owed to patients and their families, and that has been entirely destroyed with the involvement of ICE in hospitals,” said Kate Mobeen, an ICU nurse at John Muir Medical Center in Concord. “It leads to a significant feeling of fear, not only among our patients, but also among our staff and nurses.
New challenges emerge for patients’ rights and policies
Occasionally, when ICE has arrived at healthcare facilities with a detained individual, the outcome has been contradictory information regarding the regulations.
On July 29, ICE officers transported a man to John Muir Medical Center in Concord after he experienced an unknown medical issue while in custody outside the Concord immigration court, as reported by Ali Saidi, an attorney and director of Stand Together Contra Costa, a local group that provides immediate response and legal support.
When Saidi reached the hospital as part of the response team, he mentioned that the medical staff informed him he couldn’t visit the detained patient, but that the man’s family would be permitted. Later, when the man’s wife came, “The rules had somehow changed, and they said no family visits,” Saidi stated.
In a statement released by the Contra Costa Immigrants Rights Alliance, the detained man’s wife, who requested to be known only by her middle name, Maria, stated that when she spoke with her husband later, he told her he was so frightened he fainted.
My family and I went to the emergency room and requested to see him and speak with him to confirm that he was fine,” Maria stated. “The hospital staff did not allow us to see him and refused to provide any information about what was happening to him. They didn’t even respond to my questions.
John Muir representatives chose not to address the incident, referencing privacy regulations. However, in an email, Ben Drew, a hospital spokesperson, stated that the standard procedure is, “If a law enforcement agency states that visitation poses a safety or security risk, [the hospital] might restrict or refuse visitation to ensure the safety of our patients, employees, and guests.”
Saidi mentioned that when the wife demanded details about the man’s health, hospital security alerted the police.
We recognize that emotions can run high when a family member or friend is in the emergency department or hospital,” said Drew. “The hospital only brings in local police when a patient’s or visitor’s behavior turns abusive, disruptive, or threatening, and our own security team is unable to handle the situation.
Saidi refuted the claim that the family was causing disturbances, stating that interactions with hospital personnel and administration were polite and no one raised their voice.
The environment in that emergency room was unlike anything I’ve experienced in my career,” Saidi stated. “There was a disturbing atmosphere. Everyone was looking away. You could sense the staff felt ashamed.
Several emergency department nurses mentioned to Mobeen, a local representative of the California Nurses Association at John Muir, that ICE officers acted “very aggressively toward the staff,” leaving them “emotionally and physically distressed” afterward, she stated.
“It’s terrifying not being able to inform patients’ family members about their condition or status,” Mobeen said.
One of the challenges, Mobeen mentioned, is education. Employees did not receive sufficient instruction on how to handle any form of immigration enforcement that might take place at the hospital, she explained.
Drew, the representative for John Muir, responded by stating that the hospital has provided information regarding its long-standing law enforcement policy and has addressed numerous questions since January about procedures to follow if ICE agents arrive at their locations.
Constraints on ICE access, often unclear
Last month, immigration officers took over the entrance area of Dignity Health’s Glendale Memorial Hospital, including positioning themselves behind the front desk.as images that spread across the internet revealed.Demonstrators assembled outside the hospital where they held protests and media briefings.
They were all present because agents had previously taken them inMilagro Solis-Portillo, an immigrant from El Salvador, sought medical treatment after being detained. They remained in the hospital for 15 days waiting for Solis-Portillo’s release before moving her to another facility and then taking her into custody,as reported by local news outlets.
In a statement, officials from Dignity Memorial Hospital stated they were unable to legally prevent law enforcement from being present in public spaces.
That’s correct, according to legal professionals: Waiting areas and reception halls are classified as public zones within medical facilities. However, agents are not permitted to traverse hospitals without restrictions. Law enforcement personnel are prohibited from searching for individuals in examination rooms or other confidential areas without a federal court authorization.
When officers detain an individual requiring medical attention, the application of the law can become more complicated.
As per Richardson from the hospital association, the extent to which an agent can enter treatment areas with a detained patient might be determined individually for each situation. In instances where a detained patient is fighting or refusing, that individual might require supervision, she mentioned.
And if law enforcement personnel enter examination rooms, they might overhear medical information while remaining alert. However, this does not automatically constitute a breach of privacy, as per federal regulations. The HIPAA Privacy Rule, which establishes privacy standards for medical information,has a provisionwhich permits “incidental disclosures” of data provided “reasonable precautions” are taken.
“The hospital will, and the doctor will take reasonable steps to safeguard the patient’s confidentiality.” “What constitutes reasonable will again depend on the patient’s condition, how the patient is acting, and the specific situation,” Richardson stated.
HIPAA safeguards the release of medical records, which consist of names, addresses, and social security numbers in addition to health-related details. State laws also mandate that healthcare facilities ensure the confidentiality of this data. According toadvice from the office of the attorney general, health care facilities should treat a patient’s immigration status as confidential.
At the same time, certain disclosures must occur if law enforcement can demonstrate lawful custody or present a valid warrant. A federal court warrant, issued by a judge, allows law enforcement to access information or search a specific location immediately, whereas an ICE administrative warrant does not necessitate immediate action.
Health workers in ‘precarious’ situations
Health institutions typically instruct frontline staff not to interact with immigration officials, but instead to promptly reach out to security or management.
A specific event at a surgery center in Southern California comes to mind, during discussions with healthcare professionals.
On July 8, federal agents focused their attention on three landscapers who were parked near the Ontario Advanced Surgical Center. They pursued one of the individuals into the building on foot, as stated in a felony criminal complaint that was submitted against two healthcare employees in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
In footage of the event uploaded to the internet, amasked officer wearing a vest labeled “POLICE ICE”On the reverse, a man crying is held by the shoulder in the center, with several staff members in scrubs nearby. Throughout the video, employees request the officer for identification; one employee states, “this is a private business.”
Two employees, Danielle Davila and Jose Ortega, ask the officer to step away. Davila positions herself between the officer and the man, stating, “Get your hands off of him. You don’t have a warrant at all.”
Ortega places an arm between Davila and the officer, stating, “You don’t have valid identification.”
The officer tells both workers, “You touched a federal agent.” Afterwards, Davila replies, “I’m not touching you.”
Davila and Ortega subsequently faced two felony charges for attacking a federal officer and plotting to hinder a federal officer from carrying out their responsibilities.
Last week, the felony charges were dropped, and both Davila and Ortega entered not guilty pleas to a new misdemeanor assault charge. A representative from the U.S. attorney’s office refused to provide any comments regarding the charges.
Defense lawyer Oliver Cleary for Davila stated that his client thought she was acting appropriately by requesting credentials and a warrant.
You can’t just walk in where people are receiving medical treatment and take them away,” Cleary stated. “She didn’t know who these individuals were. They didn’t inform her of their identities, and as far as she was concerned, this person was a patient at the clinic.
Carlos Juárez, the lawyer representing Ortega, stated that detaining and accusing healthcare professionals with criminal charges for requesting to see a warrant and identification places them in a “risky” and “hazardous” position.
They did what was necessary and what they were entitled to do,” Juárez stated. “What I hope is that it doesn’t discourage other healthcare professionals.
Employees claim further education may be beneficial
Across the state, healthcare professionals express a desire for management to offer more detailed instructions on how to handle such situations if they occur in their workplace. Some employees are conducting training sessions on their own.
Adriana Rugeles-Ortiz, a certified vocational nurse at Kaiser Permanente Modesto Medical Center, has been organizing “Know Your Rights” workshops at her facility and within her neighborhood through her union, SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. She mentioned that several of her colleagues have shown concern about certain scenarios they’ve witnessed in other hospitals.
“Due to my participation in all the training we’ve provided to the workers and the community, I personally feel ready. However, I’m not entirely sure we’ve reached every member of the Kaiser workforce to ensure they have the confidence to handle it,” Rugeles-Ortiz said.
Dr. Douglas Yoshida, an emergency room doctor at Stanford Health Tri-Valley in Alameda County, mentioned that further instructions and education for staff at healthcare centers might be highly beneficial.
I believe, as healthcare professionals, we must provide quality care to these patients, just as we would for any other individual, and we must safeguard their rights,” Yoshida stated. “Personally, if someone arrives in ICE custody, within the boundaries of the law, I want to do everything possible to assist them.
The hospital in Pleasanton where Yoshida is employed is situated close to the county’s Santa Rita Jail; he mentioned that the staff have become accustomed to having law enforcement around. However, the recent event at John Muir Medical Center, approximately 30 miles to the north, along with the criminal charges brought against employees at a southern California surgery center, have made people uneasy, according to Yoshida.
Typically, healthcare professionals have no cause to be concerned about law enforcement,” he added, “but we are now in unfamiliar territory.
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