Activists, community leaders and local politicians have called out Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital, claiming that it is aiding federal law enforcement by allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities to monitor patients.
Milagro Solis Portillo is being treated in the hospital after experiencing a medical emergency while she was being detained by ICE agents on Thursday, July 3, outside her home in Sherman Oaks.
She is being monitored by contracted officers who have been sitting in the hospital’s main lobby, with the intent to apprehend Portillo once she is discharged from the hospital, the group said at a press conference outside the hospital on Monday morning.
Sarah Houston, managing attorney at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, who is now representing Portillo, read a statement from the family at the press conference.
“Despite obvious injuries that required hospitalization, she was left handcuffed and covered in her own vomit for over eight hours without proper medical care,” said Houston. “She is now being treated at Glendale Memorial Hospital and requires extensive hospitalization. Meanwhile, ICE has contracted private detention officers to monitor her 24/7 at the hospital, creating a hostile and frightening environment for her, other patients and hospital staff.”
Portillo has several serious health conditions, according to Houston, which would make it impossible to safely hold her in an ICE detention facility.
She further criticized the hospital for potentially violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the federal data privacy law, by providing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information about Portillo.
“They’re putting the safety of their patients and their staff below [the needs] of the Department of Homeland Security,” said Houston.
Dignity Health released a statement also on Monday, saying it cannot restrict law enforcement from being in public areas of the hospital. Although the hospital is a private facility, the lobby and parking lots are deemed “public spaces.”
“Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital acknowledges the community’s concerns regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and we share a desire to keep our neighbors safe.
The hospital cannot legally restrict law enforcement or security personnel from being present in public areas which include the hospital lobby/waiting area.
For generations, Dignity Health has been dedicated to improving the health of the communities we serve, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Our focus always remains on our patients’ medical needs and well-being, regardless of their background, status, or circumstances, and this is a responsibility we take very seriously.
No individual should ever delay seeking medical care. Dignity Health’s commitment to the safety and well-being of all our patients is unwavering.”
While Dignity Health’s statement maintains that their patients are their priority, the presence of immigration enforcement can deter people from entering the hospital and seeking care.
If this practice were to become the norm, it could change the trust patients have in hospitals, where care is supposed to be provided for everyone regardless of their immigration status.
For over a month, President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted Los Angeles County with aggressive immigration enforcement raids. While at first claiming to be targeting criminals, masked ICE agents have been detaining people at work sites, places of worship and outside schools and immigration courts. The vast majority of those who have been apprehended have no criminal record, according DHS records.
“Milagro was kidnapped from the streets of my council district in Sherman Oaks,” said LA City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, “like flower vendors outside of Forrest Lawn Cemetery, like workers at car washes in Encino and Sherman Oaks. She and other workers and residents of my council district have been taken in vague ways that violate basic constitutional principles, including due process and access to a lawyer.”
State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, who represents the city of Glendale, called what is taking place at the hospital “highly disturbing” and an example of how aggressive the Trump administration has become “in their pursuit to demonize and target our immigrant community.”
On his first day in office, Pérez noted, Trump rolled back President Joe Biden’s “protected areas” policy, which declared hospitals, schools and churches as safe spaces. She added that state officials are working on legislation to enshrine those protections into California law.
“This is fascism, plain and simple,” said Pérez. “Everybody deserves access to health care and an environment that is safe and free from intimidation, and that is not what is happening when you have immigration enforcement officers present in the hospital, intimidating people, terrorizing people.”
This is a clear HIPAA violation. The supposed ICE agents were behind the counter, where other patients had to come. That is not a public area! Glendale Memorial Hospital is obviously complicit in collaborating with ICE. They are unsafe for patient care.
She has been deported multiple times, she has a criminal record for false identification, theft and burglary. She fought with officers and that’s how she ended up in the hospital. She needs to be thrown in prison and left there. She’s committed multiple felonies and clearly it’s not following our laws.