Federal immigration agents lined up across the ambulance entrance of Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center in Boyle Heights overnight Friday, Nov. 6. And for about two hours, the hospital sent ambulances to other emergency rooms, a hospital spokesperson told NBC Los Angeles.

By Saturday afternoon, federal prosecutors said two people had been arrested, and Mayor-elect Nithya Raman had joined protesters outside the hospital.

ICE Brought a Detainee to White Memorial’s Emergency Room

Hospital officials said ICE agents had taken a detainee to the emergency department for treatment on Friday. The hospital has not disclosed why the person needed treatment. However, according to the LAPD, the agents and the detainee were at the hospital around midnight, ABC7 reported.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement that the detainee had asked to see a doctor and that people began harassing the agents while they were there, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Agents Lined Up Across the Ambulance Bay, and the Hospital Diverted Ambulances

“When agents formed a line across our ambulance entrance, which we did not request nor authorize, we diverted ambulances to nearby hospitals for about two hours to ensure every patient received timely, respectful, and culturally sensitive care,” the hospital spokesperson told NBC Los Angeles.

In response, a large crowd formed around the agents posted at the ER doors, with some people banging pots and filming on their phones. Community activist Abraham Zavala, who works as a rapid responder, said agents used mace on him and other protesters. OnScene Media’s video shows protesters facing off with masked officers who seemed to be blocking the ambulance entrance, and the outlet said numerous people were shoved and pepper-sprayed, according to the Times. In ABC7’s footage, a teenage girl is helped by others after being hit with pepper spray.

Hospital security called police a second time at about 2:24 a.m., alleging that roughly 30 protesters had “gathered at the hospital and breached the ambulance access area,” an LAPD spokesperson told the Times. The department said officers went to keep the peace and played no role in immigration enforcement. The federal agents left shortly after a priest arrived at the scene, video shows, according to the Times.

A Top Federal Prosecutor Says the Two People Arrested Assaulted Agents

A video posted by Michelle Rivera, who was observing that night, shows officers holding a person down on the sidewalk at the corner of Boyle and Pennsylvania avenues, near the hospital, the Times reported. “He’s being arrested for assaulting a federal agent,” an officer says in the video. “He’s coming with us.”

According to Essayli, the two people arrested are U.S. citizens and face charges of assaulting a federal officer, NBC Los Angeles reported. However, the station noted that no specifics on the alleged assaults were released. “These agitators created a dangerous situation for the public and law enforcement,” he wrote, according to the Times. “Law enforcement will never back down to thugs, so efforts to intimidate ICE will fail.”

Raman described the same night differently. “I’m appalled by what took place last night at White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights, where ICE agents were obstructing emergency room entry and detained two US citizens,” she wrote on X on Saturday. ICE declined to discuss the operation. “ICE does not target hospitals, schools, or churches,” the agency said in a statement to NBC Los Angeles. “This is just another false narrative to try to demonize our brave ICE law enforcement.”

White Memorial Says ICE Was Not There at Its Invitation

“There was a time when ICE actually wanted to break protocol and be in with the physician in that sacred physician-patient encounter, and we said no,” hospital president Daniel Fontoura said Saturday, according to ABC7. The line at the ambulance entrance “was not done with our approval,” he said, which is why the hospital called the LAPD. “I can tell you that ICE was not at our invitation,” Fontoura told reporters.

In a statement shared with NBC Los Angeles, Fontoura said the hospital “does not participate in immigration enforcement, does not facilitate immigration operations, and will not allow immigration enforcement activities to compromise our commitment to patient care and safety.” Fontoura also said the hospital will work on better coordination between its security guards and the LAPD for future encounters with ICE.

Boyle Heights Marched to the Hospital the Next Day

On Saturday afternoon, community members marched to the hospital from Mariachi Plaza. The Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network organized the demonstration. And it drew Raman, state Sen. María Elena Durazo, and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights.

“What happened last night at this hospital was an affront to the wishes of the American people and the people of Los Angeles,” Raman told the crowd. For her part, Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles said, “They are not listening. They are not hearing what people are saying, which is that ICE enforcement has to abide by human rights, by constitutional rights.”

“It’s unacceptable that ICE would go into our health care facilities. But we also believe that White Memorial can and should do more,” Durazo said. “We want to clarify the hospital’s coordination with ICE,” she said. “What is that coordination?” Jurado called on White Memorial to “publicly disclose its agreements with ICE and end any voluntary medical-services contract with the agency,” according to her statement, published by NBC Los Angeles. In a statement, Mayor Karen Bass condemned the agents and asked the Trump administration “to stop all immigration enforcement in and around health care facilities.” She also faulted the hospital. “Hospital leadership also had a duty to step in right away to protect patients and neighbors, and by all appearances, that did not happen,” she said.

California Law Limits Where Agents Can Go Inside a Hospital

Under federal law, ICE agents can enter a hospital’s public spaces, including parking lots, experts told NBC Los Angeles. Private spaces are different in California, where Senate Bill 81, approved last year, keeps immigration agents out of areas like patient rooms without a warrant or court order, the station reported.

Raman’s statement on X ended with a list of hotlines for families who need immigration rights support: the LA Raids and Rapid Response Network at (888) 624-4752, the Immigrant Defenders Law Center rapid response legal hotline at (213) 833-8283, and the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network rapid response hotline at (323) 805-1049.

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