In July, federal immigration agents took Milagro Solis-Portillo to Glendale Memorial Hospital near Los Angeles after she suffered emergency medical care during the arrest. They didn't leave.
For two weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were stationed around the clock in the hospital lobby, working shifts to monitor her movements, her lawyer Ming Tanigawa-Lau said.
ICE later transferred the Salvadoran woman to Anaheim Global Medical Center against her doctor's orders and without explanation, her lawyer said. There, Tanigawa-Lau said, ICE agents were allowed to remain in Solis-Portillo's hospital room around the clock, listening in on what were supposed to be private conversations with medical providers. Solis-Portillo told her lawyer that agents pressured her to say she was healthy enough to leave the hospital, telling her she wouldn't be able to talk to her family or lawyer until she complied.
“She described it to me as feeling like she was being tortured,” Tanigawa-Lau said.
Legal experts say ICE agents may be on the case public places hospitals, for example, in the lobby, and can accompany already detained patients while they are being treated, illustrating the scope of federal authority. However, detained patients have rights and can try to defend themselves or seek legal assistance.
Earlier this year California allocate $25 million to fund legal services for immigrants and certain local jurisdictions, including Orange County, Long BeachAnd San Francisco — invested money in providing legal assistance. The California Department of Human Services lists some legal protection, non-profit organizations who received the funds.
Sofia Genovesesenior attorney and fellow at Georgetown Law School, said law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, can protect and even restrain a person in their custody who is receiving medical care, but they must comply with constitutional and health privacy laws regardless of a person's immigration status. Under those laws, patients can ask to speak privately with health care providers, as well as seek the help of an attorney and speak confidentially, she said.
“ICE should be placed outside the room or out of earshot during any communication between a patient and their physician or health care provider,” Genovese said, adding that the same applies to patient communications with attorneys. “That's what they should do.”
ICE Recommendations
Regarding communication and visits, ICE standards state that detainees must have phone access and be able to accept visits from family and friends “within security and operational restrictions.” However, these recommendations are not enforceable, Genovese said.
If immigration agents arrest someone without a warrantthey must explain to them why they were detained and generally cannot hold them for more than 48 hours without making a custody order. A federal judge recently ruled temporary restraining order in a case in which a man named Byron Rovidio Marin was under the control of immigration agents was in a Los Angeles hospital for 37 days without being charged and was registered under an alias.
In the past, alleged misconduct by agents could have been reported to ICE management at field offices, agency headquarters or an oversight agency, Genovese said. But earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security downsize at the ombudsman's offices that investigate civil rights complaints, saying they were “hindering immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles.”
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Trisha McLaughlin said agents arrested Marin because he was in the country illegally and that he admitted to ICE agents that he lacked legal status. She said agents took him to the hospital after he injured his leg while trying to evade federal officers during a raid. She said officers did not interfere with his ability to see his family or use his phone.
“All detainees have access to telephones that they can use to contact their families and lawyers,” she said.
McLaughlin said the temporary restraining order was issued by an activist judge. She did not answer questions about staff reductions in the ombudsman's office.
DHS also said Solis-Portillo was in the country illegally. The department said she was expelled from the United States twice and was arrested for crimes related to false identification, theft and burglary.
“ICE takes our responsibility to provide a safe, secure and humane environment for those in our custody very seriously,” McLaughlin said. “It is a long-standing practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.”
Protection in California
Anaheim Global Medical Center did not respond to a request for comment. IN statementDignity Health, which operates Glendale Memorial Hospital, said it “cannot legally restrict the presence of law enforcement or security personnel in public areas, including the hospital lobby/waiting area.”
California passed the law In September, it prohibited health care facilities from allowing federal agents without a valid search warrant or court order into private premises, including places where patients receive treatment or discuss health matters. But many of the most high-profile news reports about immigration agents in medical facilities involved detained patients brought in for medical care.
Erica Frank, vice president of legal counsel for the California Hospital Association, said hospitals have always had law enforcement, including federal agents, transporting people they detained who needed medical care.
According to association spokesman Ian Emerson-Shea, hospitals will defer to law enforcement regarding the need for ongoing patient monitoring. If law enforcement officers eavesdrop on a patient's medical information while the patient is in the hospital, it is not a violation of the patient's confidentiality, she added.
“From a legal perspective, this is no different than a patient or visitor eavesdropping on another patient in the next bed or in the emergency room,” Emerson-Shea said in a statement.
She did not specify whether patients could request confidentiality when communicating with health care providers and attorneys, and said hospitals do not tell family and friends the whereabouts of a detained patient for security reasons.
Sandy Reding, president of the California Nurses Association and who visited the Glendale facility when Solis-Portillo was there, said nurses and patients were scared to see masked immigration agents in the hospital lobby. She said she saw them sitting at the front desk, where they could hear people discussing private medical information.
“Hospitals used to be a place of refuge, but now they’re not,” she said. “And it looks like ICE has just gone on a rampage.”
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors plans to vote Nov. 18 on a proposal to provide additional protections for detainees in county medical facilities. These include limiting the ability of immigration officers to conceal patients' identities, allowing patients to consent to sharing information with family members and lawyers, and instructing staff to insist that immigration agents leave the room from time to time to protect patient confidentiality. The District will also protect employees who attempt to support its policies.
Solis-Portillo's lawyer, Tanigawa-Lau, said her client ultimately decided to self-deport to El Salvador rather than fight her case because she felt she couldn't get the medical care she needed while in ICE custody.
“Even though Milagro's case is truly horrific, I'm glad there is now more awareness about this issue,” Tanigawa-Lau said.
