Immigration officers entered Hennepin County Medical Center without a warrant and waited for more than 24 hours at the bedside of a patient receiving medical care last week, according to Unidos MN, an immigrant advocacy nonprofit.
About a hundred health care workers, including HCMC staff, elected officials and immigration advocates gathered outside the HCMC Emergency Department Tuesday calling on hospitals and businesses to adopt policies to protect immigrants seeking services in their buildings. They’re asking hospitals to prevent immigration officers from entering their facilities without a proper arrest warrant.
“Being in a hospital is already traumatic enough,” said attendee Janna Gewirtz O’Brien, a doctor and president-elect of the Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Having fear and a sense that they are unsafe or that their family members will be detained is completely unacceptable.”
HCMC released a statement Tuesday afternoon addressing last week’s incident, but provided limited details.
“Regarding reports of a patient who arrived last week, we are limited in the information we can share because we have a legal duty to protect patient confidentiality,” the statement said. “We can confirm that any federal agents arriving with a patient presented appropriate identification, adhered to our established processes, and left after Security asked for documentation to support their continued presence.”
HCMC said that its security, legal and leadership teams “worked together throughout, with a focus on providing care and support for the patient and our team.”
HCMC said the hospital’s practices “largely” align with guidance proposed by Unidos MN, and are routinely updated in the interest of patients, employees and visitors.
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The patient arrived at the HCMC Emergency Department on Dec. 31 seeking medical care, said Luis Argueta, communications director for Unidos MN. ICE officers entered the hospital without a warrant to arrest the patient, and sat at the patient’s bedside for approximately 28 hours while medical staff provided care, Argueta said.
ICE officers treated the patient as though they were in custody, he said, including denying them family visitation and at times, shackling them to their bed, he said. ICE officers were reportedly also given access to staff-only spaces at HCMC, such as break rooms and parking lots, he added.
“Hospitals should never ever treat a patient the way that this patient was treated,” Argueta said. “Down to shackling someone at the bed, that’s something that you would do if a prisoner had to be sent to a county hospital, not someone who has a different status other than citizen.”
According to HCMC’s website, personal and medical information is not shared with federal immigration officials without the patient’s consent or unless it is legally required. There are also signs posted in the facility for patient private areas and a security team trained to verify officers credentials related to immigration enforcement activity.
A Hennepin County Commissioner and some state legislators were alerted to last week’s situation and showed up at HCMC, Argueta said, adding that the immigration officers left when they were confronted by the lawmakers.
DFL state Rep. Mohamud Noor, whose district includes the hospital, showed up at HCMC when he was notified of federal agents’ presence.
“Given that this is an individual with a high medical risk, if he was detained he could have lost his life,” Noor said of the patient.
Six immigration officers were inside the hospital with the patient; two officers sat by the patient’s bedside rotating every four hours, Noor said. ICE officers did not have the proper warrant to enter private areas of the hospital, he added.
“They handcuffed the individual to the bed, but he was getting access to care and that meant that he was distressed even further,” Noor said. “That created tension for the patients who were getting care in the hospital for everyone who was within that area.”
A HCMC staffer notified Unidos about the situation, Argueta told Sahan Journal.
“The only reason why this story has a safe, successful resolution is because frontline healers took it upon themselves to train outside of work to further protect their patients and their community,” said Jamey Sharp, a healthcare worker who is affiliated with Unidos MN and does not work at HCMC. “They learn their own rights and most importantly they learn their patients’ rights.”
More than 300 healthcare workers have participated in training led by Unidos to prepare them to protect patients during encounters with immigration authorities, said Sharp.
“Healers will keep showing to make sure hospitals remain places of healing and not fear,” he said.
Sharp was among several health care workers at the news conference who called on HCMC to enforce and update policies on how to respond to ICE officers in the hospital. ICE officers are allowed in hospitals, he said, but should not be allowed in private employee and patient areas if they don’t have a signed judicial warrant.
Unidos wrote guidance for hospitals in Minnesota recommending how health care providers should interact with federal immigration officers in their facilities. A patient’s entire care team should be notified of officers’ presence in facilities, and a patient’s family should be notified, according to Unidos.
“When faced with situations that impede our ability to deliver care, we rely on the institutions to provide clear directives as to how to respond,” said Lex Martin, a registered nurse at HCMC. “We implore HCMC to step up and implement policies to protect the safety and privacy for all our patients, families and staff members.”
Argueta and other speakers at Tuesday’s news conference declined to comment further on the patient’s current condition, citing patient confidentiality.
The fear of encountering immigration agents at hospital is taking a toll, said O’Brien.
Many families are delaying medical care and “numerous” patients are cancelling their healthcare appointments, including vaccinations, due to fear of immigration enforcement, she said.
“Over the last several weeks, I have been working with babies who are newborns until age 18 to 21, and I will tell you that there is a crisis among our Latine and Somali families,” she said. “They are afraid to come into the hospital.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that ICE arrested the patient. The story has been updated to reflect that ICE waited for the patient in HCMC but left after being confronted by elected officials.
