Hospitals are supposed to be a haven for anyone looking to receive care, a place
where race, gender, class, sexuality or immigration status does not matter. The new Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policy aims to make one of these significantly matter, and New Hampshire hospitals are ready to respond.
On January 20, President Donald Trump signed various executive orders relating to his immigration policy, including the enactment of a mass deportation operation of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
This operation will come in the form of targeted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, formally known as “removal actions,” where ICE detains undocumented employees working for U.S. employers.
ICE carries out these raids by either a list of individuals they are looking to detain or by visiting certain industries known to employ high numbers of undocumented immigrants, such as construction, restaurants, cleaning or agricultural industries.
Due to the Trump administration’s discarding of arrest policies in January, arrests can now take place in sensitive locations such as schools, churches and hospitals.
This action is unethical, appalling and heartless, plummeting our country even further away from political and moral sanity.
Dr. Marie-Elizabeth Ramas, Nashua family physician and medical society president-elect, explains how this can deter patients from seeking care, according to an NHPR article.
“We saw this in previous years, where there was an increased and heightened threat of deportation, that resulted in delay of seeking treatment by patients with immigrant status within the state,” Ramas said.
She told NHPR that former patients reached out asking if it was safe to go to the doctor, and she explained to them that New Hampshire Medical Society’s position was to ensure all patients receive care regardless of immigration status.
“We can only disclose patient information to ICE if there’s a court order, a warrant, subpoena or a summons that’s issued by a judge,” she stated. “It’s really important that our medical community recognizes that we can still take care of our patients.”
ICE agents must have signed a judicial warrant or employer’s consent before entering non-public business premises.
An ICE warrant is issued by immigration officers that names an “allegedly deportable non-citizen and directs various federal immigration enforcement agents to arrest that individual,” according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
According to an NHPR article, Dartmouth Health says its hospitals do not ask about patients’ immigration status, and federal law requires healthcare institutions to protect sensitive patient data.
While these laws can be comforting to those applicable, it is understandable to still feel scared, especially when ICE contradicts these laws.
Zeneyda Barrera Hernandez, an 18-year-old resident of Lynn, Massachusetts, was arrested on Jan. 27 and held without bail in Cumberland County Jail in Portland, Maine, despite being here legally.
She was arrested by Lynn Police Department after getting in a fight with her 12-year-old brother, and though released Monday morning, ICE officials were waiting for her in the lockup, according to a Press Herald article. She was released on the morning of February 1 and reunited with her family.
Barrera Hernandez came from Nicaragua over a year ago and was granted a work permit while her asylum application was in review, giving her full permission to stay in the country.
Though released, it is still confusing how ICE was allowed to detain her when she was here legally.
This situation is still beyond comprehension and is infuriating to see how easily the rules are broken. Now, even being here legally doesn’t hold any promise, and many are forced into hiding or riddled with fear of what the next few months may bring.
Schools, churches and hospitals are sensitive for a reason. They are sanctuaries built on foundations of human rights, and with how the country is currently, that’s one foundation destined to keep crumbling.
Jaden Johnson can be contacted at
