Anger and uncertainty descended Tuesday afternoon on UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center after federal immigration agents showed up with a woman who was having health issues while in their custody, upsetting doctors and nurses as the agents entered the emergency room and drawing protesters outside who feared an ICE raid was underway, according to witnesses.
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Hospital officials later said that no raids had taken place at the Westwood facility, and that the woman had been discharged.
The woman, whose identity was not immediately known, was brought to the center after experiencing a medical issue while in the custody of federal agents, said a union representative from the California Nurses Association, who requested anonymity.
Agents from Customs and Border Protection detained two Iranian nationals earlier in the day during enforcement efforts in Los Angeles. The agency said the Iranian nationals were unlawfully in the United States and were considered “subjects of national security interest.”
Agents escorted a woman who had been detained to the hospital along with emergency medical providers, the border patrol said.
UCLA Health officials said two federal agents accompanied the patient, who was cared for and later discharged and taken again into federal custody. No immigration raids occurred at the hospital and no agents remained on hospital grounds, hospital officials said.
The union representative said six federal immigration agents entered the emergency room lobby and at least one went inside the woman’s hospital room. The agent reportedly held onto the patient’s bed and refused to let go, a nurse told the representative.
Usually, nurses don’t have to let anyone into patient areas, and law enforcement will remain outside the room when a patient is in custody, the union representative said. Nurses and doctors in the emergency room were also upset that agents continued to enter patient care areas, he said.
“Agent presence at the hospital was solely to guard the subject receiving medical care—a standard procedure when an individual in the country illegally requires medical attention,” border patrol said.
The California Nurses Association representative said health care workers confronted several federal immigration agents and tried to make them leave the hospital. A group of community members and UCLA students and professors also showed up to protest a potential immigration raid.
