The Brief

Federal immigration agents are more routinely showing up at California medical facilities as the Trump administration ramps up deportations.

They may come to the emergency room, bringing in someone who’s suffering a medical crisis while being detained. They may wait in the lobby, as agents did for two weeks at an L.A.-area hospital waiting for a woman to be discharged. Or they may even chase people inside, as federal agents did at a Southern California surgical center.

The sight of these agents — often armed and with covered faces — makes many wary and may keep people from seeking care.

Existing hospital policies guide operations when law enforcement brings in a person under arrest, hospital officials say.

“This is nothing new to hospitals,” said Lois Richardson, vice president and counsel at the California Hospital Association. “We get inmates, detainees, arrestees all the time, whether it's police, sheriff, highway patrol, ICE, whatever it is.” The job for hospital workers remains to provide care, she added, and not to get involved in disputes over why a person is in custody.

Yet immigration attorneys, advocates and health workers have expressed concerns over the handling of some of these cases, both by immigration officers and by some administrators at medical facilities.

Specifically, they’reworried about the application of protocols like visitation rules, about threats to patients’ legal and privacy rights, and about risks to hospital workers themselves.

“We have a level of privacy that we owe to patients and their families, and that has just been completely demolished with all of the involvement of ICE coming into hospitals,” said Kate Mobeen, an ICU nurse at John Muir Medical Center in Concord. “It creates just a huge sense of fear, not only in our patient population, but in our employee population and our nurses.”

Patients' rights, policies face new tests

Sometimes when ICE has shown up at medical facilities with a detained patient, the result has been conflicting messaging about the rules.

On July 29, ICE agents took a man to John Muir Medical Center in Concord because he suffered an unspecified medical emergency while being detained outside the Concord immigration court, according to Ali Saidi, an attorney and the director of Stand Together Contra Costa, a local rapid response and legal services organization.

When Saidi arrived at the hospital as part of the response network, he said hospital staff told him that he was not allowed to see the detained patient, but that the man’s family would be allowed. Then, when the man’s wife arrived, “The rules had somehow changed, and they said no family visit,” Saidi said.

In a statement shared by the Contra Costa Immigrants Rights Alliance, the detained man’s wife, who asked to be identified only by her middle name, Maria, said that when she later talked to her husband, he told her that he was so terrified that he passed out.

“My family and I went to the emergency room and we asked to see him and talk to him to make sure he was okay,” Maria said, in the statement. “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.”

John Muir officials would not comment on the incident, citing privacy laws. But in an email, Ben Drew, a spokesperson for the hospital, said general policy is that “If a law enforcement agency indicates that visitation presents a safety or security concern, [the hospital] may limit or deny visitation to protect our patients, staff, and visitors.”

Saidi said that when the wife insisted on getting information about the man’s condition, hospital security called the police.

“We understand that emotions are high whenever a family member or friend is in the emergency department or hospital,” said Drew. “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.”

Saidi denied that the family was being disruptive, saying that conversations with hospital staff and administration were respectful and no voices were raised.

“The atmosphere in that emergency bay was something like I’ve never seen before in my career,” Saidi said. “There was a chilling effect. Everyone was averting their eyes. You could tell the staff felt bad.”

Multiple emergency department nurses told Mobeen, a local California Nurses Association leader at John Muir, that ICE officers were “very aggressive with staff” and staff were afterwards “emotionally and physically upset” by what happened, she said.

“It’s horrifying to not be able to tell patients’ family members how they are, what their status is,” Mobeen said.

Part of the issue, Mobeen added, is training. Staff were not given adequate training on how to respond to any kind of immigration enforcement action that may occur at the hospital, she said.

Drew, the spokesman for John Muir, countered that the hospital has given guidance on its longstanding law enforcement policy and answered multiple questions since January about what to do if ICE agents show up at their facilities.

Limits for ICE access, sometimes murky

Last month, immigration agents occupied the lobby of Dignity Health’s Glendale Memorial Hospital, even standing behind reception desks, as photos that circulated online showed. Protestors gathered outside the hospital hosting rallies and press conferences.

They were all there because agents had previously brought in Milagro Solis-Portillo, an immigrant from El Salvador, for medical care following her detention. They spent 15 days in the hospital waiting for Solis-Portillo’s discharge before transferring her to another hospital and then taking her into custody, according to local news reports.

In a statement, officials from Dignity Memorial Hospital said they could not legally prohibit law enforcement from being in public areas.

That’s true, say legal experts: Waiting rooms and lobbies are considered public spaces in hospitals. But agents cannot move through hospitals without limits. Law enforcement officials are not allowed to search for people in exam rooms or other private spaces without a federal court warrant.

When agents bring in someone who is in their custody and needs medical care, the application of the law can be more murky.

According to Richardson at the hospital association, how far an agent can go into treatment areas with a detained patient may be decided on a case by case basis. In cases where a detained patient is struggling or resisting, that patient may need guarding, she explained.

And if law enforcement officers do go inside exam rooms, they may hear medical information while on guard. But that isn't necessarily a privacy violation, according to federal rules. The HIPPA Privacy Rule, the law that sets privacy standards for medical information, has a provision that allows for “incidental disclosures” of information as long as “reasonable safeguards” are applied.

“The hospital will, and the doctor will make reasonable attempts to protect the patient's privacy.” “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,” Richardson said.

HIPAA protects the disclosure of medical records, which include names, addresses and social security numbers along with health conditions. State law also requires health facilities to protect this information. According to guidance from the attorney general’s office, health facilities should consider a patient’s immigration status confidential.

At the same time, some disclosures are required if law enforcement can prove lawful custody or show an appropriate warrant. A federal court warrant signed by a judge grants law enforcement immediate access to information or to search a particular area, while an ICE administrative warrant does not require immediate compliance.

Health workers in 'precarious' situations 

Health facilities generally direct frontline workers not to engage with immigration agents, but rather to immediately contact security or management.

One particular incident at a Southern California surgery center stands out, in conversation with health workers.

On July 8, federal agents targeted three landscapers who had parked outside of the Ontario Advanced Surgical Center. They chased one of the men inside on foot, according to a felony criminal complaint filed against two health care workers in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

In videos of the incident posted online, a masked agent wearing a vest labeled “POLICE ICE” on the back holds a weeping man by the shoulder inside the center while several workers in scrubs stand by. At multiple points in the video workers ask the officer for identification; one worker says, “this is a private business.”

Two workers, Danielle Davila and Jose Ortega, tell the officer to leave. Davila moves between the officer and the man, saying “Get your hands off of him. You don’t even have a warrant.”

Ortega puts an arm between Davila and the officer and says “You have no proper identification.”

The officer says to both workers “You touched a federal agent.” Then Davila responds, “I’m not touching you.”

Davila and Ortega were later charged with two felony counts of assaulting a federal officer and conspiring to prevent a federal officer from performing their duties.

Last week the felony charges were dismissed and both Davila and Ortega pleaded not guilty to a subsequent misdemeanor assault charge. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on the charges.

People stand on the stairs at an entrance of Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale.

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Robyn Beck

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AFP via Getty Images

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Davila’s defense attorney Oliver Cleary said his client believed she was doing the right thing by asking for credentials and a warrant.

“You can’t just come in where people are getting medical care and whisk them away,” Cleary said. “She didn’t know who these people were. They didn’t tell her who they were, and as far as she knew this was a patient of the clinic.”

Carlos Juárez, Ortega’s defense attorney, said arresting and charging health workers with crimes for asking to see a warrant and identification puts them in a “precarious” and “dangerous situation.”

“They did what they needed to do and what they had a right to do,” Juárez said. “What I hope is it doesn’t have a chilling effect on other health care workers.”

Workers say additional training can help

Around the state, health workers say they’d like to see management provide additional guidance on how to respond to such scenarios if they were to play out in their workplace. Some workers are providing training themselves.

Adriana Rugeles-Ortiz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Permanente Modesto Medical Center, has been leading “Know Your Rights” sessions at her hospital and in her community as part of her union, SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. She said some of her coworkers have expressed anxiety over some of the situations they’ve seen play out in other hospitals.

“Because of my involvement with all the training that we have done to the workers and to the community, personally, I do feel prepared. I am not that confident that we have been able to reach the entire workforce within Kaiser to get them to the level of confidence to deal with it,” Rugeles-Ortiz said.

Dr. Douglas Yoshida, an emergency room physician at Stanford Health Tri-Valley in Alameda County, said additional guidance and training for workers at medical facilities could be of great value.

“I think 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,” Yoshida said. “I mean, personally, if someone comes in in ICE custody, within the limits of the law, I want to do everything I can to help [patients.]”

The hospital in Pleasanton that Yoshida works in is located near the county’s Santa Rita Jail; staff, he said, have been used to a law enforcement presence. But the recent incident at John Muir Medical Center, about 30 miles north, as well as the criminal charges filed against the southern California surgery center workers have set people on edge, Yoshida said.

“Normally, health care workers have no reason to fear law enforcement,” he added, “but we’re in uncharted territory.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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The LA Local

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.