Nurses condemn revocation of policy barring ICE arrests at hospitals

Staff report

National Nurse magazine - Jan | Feb | March 2025 Issue

In January, the current administration announced it was revoking guidelines that previously barred raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on “sensitive areas,” including hospitals, other health care facilities, schools, and places of worship. In response to this change, National Nurses United (NNU), issued a statement expressing outrage because hospitals should be places of healing, where all patients feel safe receiving care, without fear. 

The statement read in part: “Our patients, with whom we make a sacred oath to help and heal, without discrimination, should never be forced to forego lifesaving treatment because our government has made our workplaces sites of harm and terror.

“Still so fresh off the deadliest months and years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in the midst of a flurry of winter respiratory illnesses, nurses deeply understand that the collective health of the nation is dependent on all people — our immigrant and our non-immigrant patients — receiving the care they need. Even just the threat of immigration enforcement in our nation’s hospitals creates an atmosphere where patients will potentially avoid seeking care, putting entire communities at risk. Viruses and other illnesses can spread quickly without proper care, and they do not discriminate.

“Nurses are also fighting our way through a longtime, ongoing staffing crisis, caused by profit-driven employers failing to invest in safe working conditions. These latest guidelines from the Trump administration just add another unsafe working condition to our jobs. Knowing that our workplaces may be raided, and our patients may be arrested, prevents nurses from focusing on the lifesaving work we were educated and called to do. When we are already so short staffed, with every patient needing us at once, we cannot also withstand ICE raids, and our country cannot withstand driving any more nurses away from the profession.

“Nurses call on the Trump administration to keep hospitals and other health care facilities, as well as other previously protected areas such as schools and places of worship, safe for all people.

“We have already demanded that our employers take action to ensure that our health care settings are places of healing, not persecution, and that we can continue to fulfill our legal and ethical responsibilities and duties as registered nurses. 

We will be meeting with employers to address our concerns about patient care and protections against retaliation. 

Demands may include:

• A clear non-discrimination policy that states publicly and internally that our patients’ immigration status will not affect their access to care
• Provide information to patients and families about our employer’s commitment to provide care for all patients regardless of immigration status
• Training programs to educate staff on the legal rights of patients with undocumented immigration status, cultural competence, and the ethical responsibility to provide care without discrimination
• Protection against retaliation so no nurse or staff members will face retaliation, discipline, or dismissal for advocating on behalf of patients with undocumented immigration status or for refusing to participate in actions that may harm such patients.
• Emergency response policy so staff is aware of current policies related to law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), entering the facility and/or accessing information on employees or patients.”