Under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy, hospitals are considered “sensitive locations” generally off-limits to immigration enforcement, the key word being “generally.” ICE also states that “the policy is not intended to categorically prohibit lawful enforcement operations when there is an immediate need for enforcement action.” That “immediate need” is determined by ICE superiors, and immigrant agents have openly flouted this rule. So, as they’re healing bodies, medical professionals are also preparing to shield those bodies to the best of their ability from federal immigration agents:
Doctors and hospital administrators have started formulating protocols so that staff members will know what to do if immigration agents enter hospitals or clinics to search for, or arrest, people who are in the country illegally.
“We want to be prepared if agents do show up and say ‘I need to see the father of the child in Bed Four,’” said Dr. Michael Anderson, president of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in Oakland and San Francisco. “Legally, we can ask the agents to leave and say ‘This is a place where we care for kids and families. This is not a place for these sorts of interactions.’”
At St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in Los Angeles—the facility “treats more immigrants who lack legal status than any clinic in the state”—dozens of employees trained for a visit from ICE agents by forming a human chain to block the entrance. Despite the precautions, fear is already having a devastating effect among immigrant communities. “Statewide, roughly 40% of providers said patients from immigrant families have been skipping appointments or scheduling fewer visits, according to a recent survey by the Children’s Partnership.”
Patients who do make it in, are asking their primary care providers for extra medicine, copies of their medical records, anything, just in case they or their loved ones get swept up and torn from their families and homes. “They want to have a stockpile,” said Jim Mangia, the clinic’s executive. “There’s this tremendous fear that on their way to take their kids to school, or on their way to the clinic, or on their way into the store, they’re going to get picked up and deported.”
Racist immigration policies harm the physical and emotional well-being of children, in particular. About six million U.S. citizens kids have at least one undocumented family member, and mass deportation policies “create toxic stress for young children by breaking families apart, instilling fear in the immigrant community, and preventing families from accessing programs that meet children’s most basic needs … children in the broader Latino community can experience distress even if everyone in their family is authorized”:
“We have kids coming in and crying, ‘What if they deport my dad?’” said Mangia, with St. John’s. “I don’t think we can underestimate the mental health impact.”
Some health workers recounted stories of children in border counties coming to school with two backpacks, one with their pencils and books, the other with their belongings in case their parents get deported. Others said they’d heard kids talking about who would take care of them if their parents were taken away.
“I see children every day,” said Maria Ruiz, who works at Soto Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights. “They go to the office and say ‘I have a headache. I couldn’t sleep. I have a stomachache’ … they’re seeing stress.”
Pediatricians call this toxic stress. It can increase children’s risk of infections and damage memory in the short term. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently warned that it can also cause physiological changes that lead to chronic health problems and other mental health disorders down the road.
“Every single pediatrician we spoke to raised this concern about the long-term effects of stress and anxiety,” said Artiga, the Kaiser Family Foundation analyst. “What’s happening today will have long-term implications that could affect children over their life span.”
Children are already being harmed. “A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that some patients were making fewer appointments for checkups for their kids,” the Los Angeles Times reported, “and some expectant mothers are skipping prenatal care. People seem wary of drawing attention to themselves, the study found.” Last year, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stalked and detained a 10-year-old Texas girl with cerebral palsy as she was being rushed to the hospital for emergency gallbladder surgery, with officials then proceeding to deny her multiple follow-up visits with her providers. Dr. Michael Anderson, president of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in Oakland and San Francisco:
“Our clinics and emergency departments have just been overwhelmed with the number of sick patients,” Anderson said. “If you think a child is ill, the last thing on your mind should be ‘Is it safe for me to go to that hospital?’”
But hospitals only have so much power. Staff can ask immigration agents to leave - unless they have a warrant. That’s why the doctors held signs at the rally that said “You Are Welcome Here," because they cannot completely guarantee, “You Are Safe Here.”
Earlier this year, “Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would force ICE to exclude hospitals from enforcement operations,” yet another reason to keep fighting for a Democratic sweep of Congress in 2018. “We will keep fighting to keep our immigrant patients safe,” tweeted St. Johns, “even if it means forming a human chain to protect them from ICE.”