In recent months, California hospitals have increasingly found themselves at the intersection of immigration enforcement and patient care, as federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies ramp up their presence in medical facilities. From East Palo Alto to Southern California, a string of incidents has left families, health workers, and advocates questioning the balance between law enforcement operations and the sanctity of patient rights, privacy, and safety.
On August 25, 2025, a harrowing scene unfolded in East Palo Alto when ICE agents arrested a 48-year-old woman named Aleyda. According to her family’s account on a GoFundMe page, Aleyda fainted from fear and stress during the arrest after being pulled from her car by multiple agents who, her daughter claimed, "had no identification." As her husband pleaded for the agents to stop because of Aleyda’s medical condition, they drove away with her unconscious. By August 29, she remained hospitalized at Stanford Hospital, receiving treatment for thrombocytopenia—a blood disorder that makes stress and physical trauma especially dangerous, as reported by the San Mateo County Rapid Response Network and confirmed by the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County.
Michelle de Blank, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, explained that her primary concern was for Aleyda’s health and well-being, pushing for the family to be allowed to see her. However, hospital officials denied visits and contact except for a brief moment on the day of her arrest. Advocates voiced concern about the impact of such restrictions, especially for a patient with a life-threatening condition. By Friday, the family’s GoFundMe campaign had raised over $17,000 for her care, highlighting both the financial and emotional toll of the ordeal.
This is no isolated incident. Across California, ICE agents have become a more common sight in emergency rooms, lobbies, and even surgical centers, as the federal government intensifies deportation efforts. According to Palo Alto Online and other local news outlets, agents have waited for days in hospital lobbies, sometimes masked and armed, or have even pursued detainees into private medical areas. The presence of federal agents—often with faces covered—has sown fear among both patients and hospital staff, sometimes deterring people from seeking urgently needed care.
Lois Richardson, vice president and counsel at the California Hospital Association, acknowledged the longstanding reality that hospitals must treat all patients, regardless of their legal status or the circumstances of their arrival. "This is nothing new to hospitals," Richardson said. "We get inmates, detainees, arrestees all the time, whether it’s police, sheriff, highway patrol, ICE, whatever it is." Still, she and others admit that the recent uptick in immigration enforcement activity has tested the boundaries of hospital policy and patient rights in new ways.
One such test came on July 29, 2025, when ICE agents brought a detained man to John Muir Medical Center in Concord after he suffered a medical emergency outside the local immigration court. Ali Saidi, director of Stand Together Contra Costa, recalled that when he arrived to help as part of a rapid response network, hospital staff initially said the man’s family could visit but later reversed course, denying them access and refusing to provide information about the patient’s condition. The man’s wife, identified only as Maria, described the family’s anguish: "The hospital staff would not let us see him and they would not give us any information about what was happening to him. They wouldn’t even answer my questions." Saidi insisted that the family was respectful and not disruptive, despite hospital security calling the police when the wife pressed for answers.
Ben Drew, a spokesperson for John Muir Medical Center, explained that the hospital may limit or deny visitation if law enforcement indicates a safety or security concern. "The hospital only involves local police in circumstances when a patient or visitor’s behavior becomes abusive, disruptive, or threatening, and cannot be resolved through our own security team," Drew said in a statement. However, frontline staff and advocates such as Kate Mobeen, an ICU nurse at John Muir, said the episode left a "chilling effect" on the department. "It’s horrifying to not be able to tell patients’ family members how they are, what their status is," Mobeen said, adding that hospital staff were "emotionally and physically upset" by the aggressive behavior of ICE officers.
Similar scenes have played out elsewhere. Last month, ICE agents occupied the lobby of Dignity Health’s Glendale Memorial Hospital for two weeks, waiting for Milagro Solis-Portillo, an immigrant from El Salvador, to be discharged. Protesters rallied outside, but hospital officials noted that they could not legally bar law enforcement from public areas like lobbies. Legal experts agree that while waiting rooms are public, agents cannot search private medical areas without a federal court warrant—a distinction that can become muddled when a detainee requires ongoing medical care.
Federal law, notably the HIPAA Privacy Rule, is intended to protect patient medical information but allows for "incidental disclosures" if reasonable safeguards are in place. As Richardson explained, "What is reasonable is going to depend, again, on what’s wrong with the patient, how the patient is behaving, the nature of the circumstances." State law further requires health facilities to keep a patient’s immigration status confidential, though some disclosures may be required if law enforcement can demonstrate lawful custody or present a court warrant.
For health care workers, these situations can feel precarious and even dangerous. On July 8, 2025, federal agents chased a man into the Ontario Advanced Surgical Center, leading to a confrontation with staff members Danielle Davila and Jose Ortega. Videos posted online show the workers asking for identification and a warrant, with Davila telling the agent, "Get your hands off of him. You don’t even have a warrant." Both were initially charged with felony assault on a federal officer, though those charges were later dismissed and replaced with misdemeanors. Defense attorneys argued that their clients were simply trying to protect patients and follow the law. "They did what they needed to do and what they had a right to do," said Carlos Juárez, Ortega’s lawyer, warning that criminalizing such actions could have a "chilling effect on other health care workers."
Many hospital staff say they feel ill-equipped to handle these encounters. While some facilities, like John Muir, say they have provided guidance, frontline workers such as Adriana Rugeles-Ortiz at Kaiser Permanente Modesto Medical Center have taken it upon themselves to lead "Know Your Rights" training sessions for colleagues and the community. "Personally, I do feel prepared. I am not that confident that we have been able to reach the entire workforce," Rugeles-Ortiz admitted. Dr. Douglas Yoshida, an emergency room physician at Stanford Health Tri-Valley, echoed the call for more training: "As health care providers, we need to deliver good health care to these patients, just like any other patient, and we need to protect their rights."
The tension between immigration enforcement and patient care is prompting soul-searching across California’s health care community. As incidents mount and the legal terrain remains murky, many are left wondering how to uphold both public safety and the fundamental promise of compassionate care.
