Alameda Health System officials told the Alameda County Supervisors Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were allowed into a patient’s room at Highland Hospital, though they did not show a warrant.
Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas said an AHS official told her a warrant had been provided.
California law prohibits health care providers from allowing immigration officers into nonpublic areas without a judicial warrant but makes an exception when an immigration officer is accompanying a person in their custody.
ICE officers brought Eduardo Antonio Ruiz-Garcia, originally from Honduras, to Highland Hospital for broken ribs on Oct. 16 after taking him into custody in Emeryville, according to published reports. He stayed there for six days before being discharged back into ICE custody.
During public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, Nikolas De Bremaeker, the patient’s attorney from Centro Legal De La Raza, said ICE had not provided a judicial warrant and did not provide an administrative warrant until days later.
Attorney Nikolas De Bremaeker answers questions from Supervisors.
Supervisors turned to Kayla Bowen, AHS associate general counsel, for answers.
“We did request a copy and we weren’t provided with anything,” Bowen said. The audience cut her off with jeers.
Bowen said AHS protocol is for staff to focus on care and to escalate legal issues regarding immigration enforcement to an administrator on call, as recommended by the California attorney general.
“It was my understanding that we did have the proper documentation,” AHS CEO James Jackson said at the meeting. “If we did not have the documentation, we should have had. That’s a part of our process, and we will learn, and we will be better.”
Jackson said after the meeting that he had been misinformed about the warrant.
“I am very upset to hear today that the information I thought was true on Monday, that this was an arrest with a warrant is not true,” Fortunato Bas said. “That is extremely upsetting.”
De Bremaeker claimed an officer fractured six of Ruiz-Garcia’s ribs by sitting on his chest after tackling him in Emeryville.
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ICE alleges Ruiz-Garcia attempted to assault the officers during the arrest and refused to obey commands. They also say that he had a pre-existing injury from falling from a ladder two days earlier.
De Bremaeker said Ruiz-Garcia was handcuffed to the bed during treatment and that at one point, an ICE agent sat at the foot of his bed grinning at him. He also said ICE agents asked staff about private medical information and tried to direct treatment.
“The hospital’s responsibility is providing care,” Bowen said, adding that care is not contingent upon seeing a warrant.
Multiple AHS health workers spoke during public comment period and criticized management for not training them adequately on how to deal with ICE and for allowing ICE vehicles to stay on hospital grounds.
“Nurses and other hospital staff were woefully unprepared on how to care for a patient in ICE custody,” said Highland nurse Claire Chalmers. “This led to multiple opportunities for direct violations of this patient’s legal rights inside our sanctuary county, at a place they should have been able to trust to keep them safe.”
“The suggestion that somehow we colluded with ICE, I categorically would just say is incorrect,” Jackson said.
The Supervisors requested a critical incident review from AHS as soon as possible to gather more facts about the situation.
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