The California Nurses Association alleges immigration officials are intimidating staff at Dignity Health-California Hospital Medical Center and preventing a patient from seeing family, visitors and legal representation.
The union, which represents 750 nurses at the Los Angeles hospital and more than 100,000 nurses across California, said in an Oct. 24 news release that it condemns the dayslong presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the hospital.
“Our hospitals need to be sanctuary spaces for people who need care, and the presence of ICE in the facility severely impacts how safe patients feel here,” Karen Sanchez, RN, who works in a medical-surgical unit at the hospital, said in the release.
Becker’s reached out to San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, which owns Dignity, for comment and will update this article should more information become available.
The day President Donald Trump’s second presidential term began, the Department of Homeland Security lifted restrictions on ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers, allowing enforcement actions to take place in previously protected areas, such as hospitals. Within months, medical facilities reported a sharp increase in no-show rates and canceled appointments amid tightened ICE enforcement.
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