Immigration enforcement sparks fear in US hospitals

The Trump administration’s rollback of a policy protecting hospitals from immigration enforcement is creating fear and confusion in emergency departments amid rising ICE arrests.

“Many hospitals don't have clear protocols,” Sandy Reding, president of the California Nurses Association, told Axios. “That's put nurses and other health workers in situations in which they have to confront ICE agents carrying warrants in unauthorized areas.”

A Homeland Security directive in January rescinded the Biden-era policy that designated hospitals, schools, and churches as off-limits “sensitive locations,” giving ICE more leeway to detain individuals and monitor those in custody receiving medical care. Health systems are now seeking legal guidance and stepping up staff training.

“The judicial warrant needs to be specific as to the place and who you're looking for. It's not going to say you can just walk into the ICU and check everybody,” said Douglas Grimm, head of ArentFox Schiff's national health care practice.

Physicians at a Los Angeles hospital told LAist that ICE interfered with patient care, blocking calls to family and staying during confidential medical conversations. Adventist Health White Memorial said it follows legal requirements to ensure “the health and safety of our patients, staff and visitors.”

Elsewhere, a UCLA nurse said she was blocked from assessing a patient by an ICE agent, and a Chicago alderwoman was arrested while checking on a detainee at a hospital.

Experts say hospitals must distinguish public from private areas and create protocols for handling ICE visits. “Staff should inform ICE they don’t have authority to grant access and keep them in the lobby until a supervisor arrives,” said Maria Kallmeyer of Quarles & Brady.

Grimm advises hospitals to secure records and whiteboards. “If the officer keeps walking, you have to take the next step, which is just try and record that. But don't try and impede their progress,” he said.

Reding highlighted safety concerns: “The nurses couldn't do their work unencumbered because they were worried about the ICE agents… So it became very clear that we need some rules.”

California recently passed a law requiring hospitals to bar immigration authorities from non-public areas without a warrant and expanded the definition of protected medical information to include immigration status.

“It is creating an atmosphere of fear,” Céline Gounder, clinical professor at NYU, told CBS Mornings. “My colleagues and I have had numerous patients tell us that they hesitated or waited too long to come in for health care.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev