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Outrage Grows Over ICE Detention at UCLA Hospital

The June 24 detention of a woman by ICE agents inside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center has sparked widespread outcry across Los Angeles, with community advocates, faculty, and legal observers demanding answers and urgent reforms from the university and its hospital system.

According to witnesses and a newly circulated demand letter, the woman was taken outside her home without a signed judicial warrant and brought into UCLA’s emergency room by un-uniformed ICE agents. While hospital staff attempted to treat her, the agents remained stationed next to her bed for over two hours, visibly intimidating staff and patients. At least one nurse reportedly attempted to resist the agents’ presence, while others appeared shaken and distressed. “There were nurses who looked like they had been crying,” said one eyewitness. “Volunteers looked nervous and scared.”

The woman was denied access to a phone call, legal counsel, and pastoral support while at the hospital. Observers say she was removed without passing through any public exit, and a helicopter landing and takeoff during the same window has raised further questions. Though she was briefly seen by her pastor on July 2, she remains in ICE custody.

In response, community members have released a public demand letter (pictured below) calling on UCLA Health to adopt clear sanctuary policies. The letter outlines minimum protections that should be guaranteed for any patient, including:

  • Ensuring access to legal counsel
  • Denying ICE access to patient care areas
  • Notifying staff, patients, and visitors when ICE is on-site
  • Refusing to release patients into federal custody

“This is not just about immigration enforcement—it’s about whether families can safely bring their children in for care,” said one early childhood educator who responded to the incident. “If parents believe ICE can walk into an ER, they won’t come in. That’s a public health crisis.”

University officials have not provided a clear public account of what occurred. However, internal correspondence from faculty to administrators has raised critical questions about whether university policy was violated. Current UCLA guidelines state that staff are not required to assist immigration enforcement and that ICE agents may not enter restricted areas—such as patient treatment spaces—without a judicial warrant. Staff are also instructed to consult legal counsel before granting any access. Yet ICE agents were reportedly allowed into the treatment area, and the patient was denied contact with her lawyer.

Further questions have emerged about the role of campus police and hospital security. Multiple witnesses report that law enforcement officers ordered visitors out of the waiting room—despite it being a public space—and threatened observers with arrest. Community members say this contradicts university policy, which prohibits campus police from participating in immigration enforcement.

Concerns have also been raised about HIPAA violations. Hospital representatives refused to confirm the patient’s presence, citing privacy law, while ICE agents were reportedly granted access to her treatment without consent.

In the days since the incident, grassroots organizers have begun mobilizing. Parents, preschool teachers, and mutual aid groups are holding gatherings to share resources, support affected families, and build collective power. Organizers say this is part of a larger pattern of institutional failure—from the university’s handling of protests and labor issues to its failure to safeguard vulnerable patients.

“There are so many layers—hospital admin, campus police, private security—and they all claim someone else is responsible,” said one organizer. “But together, they enabled this.”

The demand letter is clear: hospitals should be places of care, not cooperation with deportation. “Our community has the right to self-defense,” it reads. “Now is the time for professional courage and solidarity.”