ICE Blocked White Memorial's Ambulance Entrance for Two Hours, Hospital Says
Federal agents brought a person in custody to the Boyle Heights emergency room Friday night. The hospital diverted ambulances, two U.S. citizens were arrested, and Mayor-elect Nithya Raman joined Saturday's protest.
BOYLE HEIGHTS — Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center diverted ambulances for about two hours late Friday after federal immigration agents brought a person in their custody to the emergency room and formed a line across the ambulance entrance, a step the hospital said it did not request or authorize, according to statements shared with LAist and NBC Los Angeles.
Neighbors gathered outside overnight. On Saturday afternoon, protesters marched from Mariachi Plaza to the hospital on Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, joined by Mayor-elect Nithya Raman, ABC7 and CBS Los Angeles reported.
A Line Across the Ambulance Bay
Raquel Roman, executive director of Proyecto Pastoral and a member of the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network, told LAist it appeared to start after people saw someone being detained and taken into the hospital. Officials confirmed to CBS Los Angeles that ICE agents brought an unidentified person to the emergency room Friday evening but did not describe the patient's condition.
The Los Angeles Police Department was first called at 11:59 p.m. for a “large group causing a disturbance,” LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman told LAist, and officers returned at 2:24 a.m. as crowds grew. Video cited by LAist showed agents blocking the emergency loading dock around 2:30 a.m. ABC7, citing the LAPD, said agents were there around midnight with a person who needed treatment.
Japhet De Oliveira, a corporate communications executive at Adventist Health, told LAist that agents brought a person in custody to the emergency department and that the hospital cared for the patient “with dignity and privacy.” After agents lined up across the ambulance entrance “which we did not request nor authorize,” he said, the hospital diverted ambulances for about two hours.
Abraham Zavala, a community activist, told CBS Los Angeles that agents maced him and others, and ABC7 said video showed a teenage girl being helped after she was pepper-sprayed.
Two U.S. Citizens Arrested
Rapid response groups told LAist that agents detained at least two people outside the hospital late Friday, and Roman said the two protesters were U.S. citizens. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli later told NBC Los Angeles that two U.S. citizens were arrested and charged with assaulting a federal officer.
Video reviewed by LAist appears to show officers detaining someone around 11:30 p.m. at Boyle and Pennsylvania avenues. An officer whose vest reads “Police ICE” tells a bystander the person is “being arrested for assaulting a federal officer.”
Eisenman said officers “responded to maintain public safety and keep the peace” and did not assist immigration enforcement or detain anyone in connection with it. The hospital told NBC Los Angeles it called 911 for help.
“ICE Was Not at Our Invitation”
When Saturday’s marchers arrived with a letter demanding answers, hospital president Daniel Fontoura was waiting, CBS Los Angeles reported. “I can tell you that ICE was not at our invitation,” he told reporters. “When they block access to our patients ... they do us a disservice, and they have dishonored our commitment.”
Fontoura said the hospital refused a request that would have let agents sit in on a physician-patient consultation. “There was a time when ICE actually wanted to break protocol and be in with the physician in that sacred physician patient encounter and we said no,” he told ABC7. “When they lined up to prevent access to EMS trucks and ambulances to our facility, that was not done with our approval.”
In a written statement carried by NBC Los Angeles, Fontoura said White Memorial “does not participate in immigration enforcement, does not facilitate immigration operations, and will not allow immigration enforcement activities to compromise our commitment to patient care and safety.” He said families in Boyle Heights “should know they can come to us for care without fear.”
City Leaders Respond
“What happened last night at this hospital was an affront to the wishes of the American people and to the people of Los Angeles,” Raman said Saturday, according to ABC7. In a statement quoted by NBC Los Angeles, she said she was “appalled” and wrote, “Every Angeleno should be able to get medical care without worrying about being deported and torn from their loved ones. ICE has no place in Los Angeles.”
Mayor Karen Bass said agents “gathered in force outside of the ambulance bay,” “effectively sealing off a critical entrance.” She condemned the action and said hospital leadership “had a duty to step in right away to protect patients and neighbors, and by all appearances, that did not happen.”
Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, told LAist she was “deeply troubled” and called on the hospital “to publicly disclose its agreements with ICE and end any voluntary medical-services contract with the agency.” Sen. María Elena Durazo, quoted by NBC Los Angeles, asked what coordination the hospital has with ICE.
An ICE spokesperson told NBC Los Angeles the agency would not discuss its operations and “does not target hospitals, schools, or churches,” calling that portrayal “just another false narrative to try to demonize our brave ICE law enforcement.” The agency said obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime.
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