Healthcare Workers Are Sharing How ICE Has Made Their Jobs A Living Nightmare
by Michaela Bramwell · BuzzFeedPosted 4 hours ago
Massive anti-ICE protests are taking place across the US following the killing of two Minnesotans — including an ICU nurse — by ICE agents.
We recently scoured the r/medicine and r/nursing subreddits and asked healthcare workers in the BuzzFeed Community to share how ICE's recent actions have directly impacted their jobs. Many of their stories were deeply heartbreaking. Here's what they had to say:
1. "We had a patient come in for emergency surgery. He was Spanish-speaking only. I speak Spanish, so he was assigned to me. He told us he had no family to contact in case of emergency or to update after surgery. I told him over and over that he was safe and we would keep his identity secure, but he was so afraid he just couldn’t. It was heartbreaking to watch this man go through this alone. He was so brave protecting them, but I also thought about them…no idea if he was okay or would return…"
"I wondered if he was their breadwinner and what would happen to them if he didn’t. Aside from better patient outcomes when people have a support system at bedside, no one should have to go through health scares alone because of our current 'management.' I have worked in critical care for years, I’ve seen many tragedies and heartbreaking moments, but this one sticks with me."
—Critical Care Post Op Nurse, NY
2. "I work in an area where ICE is very active. I’ve had patients (who are children) be unable to attend medically necessary therapy appointments because their parents fear for their safety."
"These children need therapy, and it sickens me that they are losing access to the ability to have a voice because someone decided that they aren’t welcome here."
—Speech-Language Pathologist, Texas
3. "Also, in a little town in Texas, I went to pick up some groceries at a busy corner store wearing black scrubs and a face mask. Customers thought I was ICE, and it cleared out in a very few quiet, whispery minutes. Full carts were abandoned. Police states suck."
4. "I was just asked by a father (US citizen) to write a letter for his wife (Mexican, I don't know her visa/green card status), stating that she is breastfeeding their six-week-old son. He said he needed it for ICE, but did not elaborate further. Actually, most of this communication came second-hand through my nurses. Of course, I wrote the letter. I am chilled. The police state is real, here in my little town in Texas."
5. "ICE showed up at one of our satellite offices a few weeks ago. Didn't arrest anyone but checked everyone's citizenship papers. I've had my staff (a fair number of immigrants, some native-born like me) start carrying their citizenship documents with them."
—MD
6. "Well, they just murdered one of my VHA colleagues, so that was a big one...."
7. "If ICE showed up and did some egregious shit in my ER, I’ll make them cuff me first. We have tons of migrants. I have the resources so that I can afford not to work, and it’s the right thing to do for my patients."
"I’m not afraid for myself yet. They’re not going to go disappearing US citizen ER docs to Salvadoran gulags yet. The scary thing is we might get there."
—EM Attending
8. "I have a patient who no call/no showed today and it's really unlike her. Last week she even expressed how healing our session had been, so now i just feel floored. I've read that ICE presence has ramped up in my city this week, and I'm really concerned this patient - and others - could be targeted."
"I know ICE has been using medicaid data to track down people, and that is her insurance. I don't know what I'm looking for in making this post, but simply the thought made me burst into tears. I'm too embarrassed to say anything to my supervisor about it in case I sound paranoid or too attached to my patient or something. I'm just scared and thinking the worst. like so many, I feel so helpless..."
—r/therapists
9. "We are starting to see people coming into the psychiatric hospitals that are unable to cope with the constant fear of being hunted down in the streets by masked men. Therapists are at a loss because we can’t tell them that it's something that isn’t going to happen."
"What real comfort or coping skill can I provide someone that has seen family members dragged away and now feels as if they are just waiting until they meet the same fate? People that have pre-existing mental health problems are seeing spikes in paranoia, auditory/visual hallucinations, depression, anxiety, the list could go on and on. Trump also loves to demonize individuals with mental health disorders, which in turn leads people to not reach out for necessary help and support, which is now seen in the rapidly growing suicide rates. As a therapist, I like to feel as if I am helping people remember why they have hope in better days to come. To be honest, I feel wrong trying to promote hope in an utterly hopeless reality."
—Music therapist in a pschiatric hospital
10. "I volunteer at a free clinic for Spanish-speaking families. They don't come to our clinic anymore for fear of ICE raiding the offices."
"This means kids aren't getting follow-up care, vaccines, antibiotics if they're sick, or referrals to specialist care they may need. This could have long-term effects on their health, and some kids could die from things that are otherwise easily preventable."
—Pediatrician, West Virginia
11. "A family with a child with a complex medical history who was severely disabled and ill was in the children’s hospital where I work. His family had come here from Central America to get him the medical treatment he needed to stay alive. While he was in the hospital, ICE came for his mother."
"Staff did the best they could to shield him and his mother but were ultimately told by our hospital admin that if ICE came with a warrant for her arrest, we had to tell them what room they were in. They ended up arresting and deporting the mother, her other two-year-old son, and the mother's boyfriend. Our patient was too ill to be detained but we were forced to arrange for him to be medically transferred back to his home country. There is no way for us to find out for sure but he was so sick we're all pretty sure he either died in transport or shortly after reaching his destination."
—Pediatric Resident
12. "The patients I work for are terrified of being taken by ICE. A large majority of my population is foreign-born. Many have legal status, but are obviously still scared since ICE is going after anyone who is not a white male."
"My patients are missing their life-saving chemotherapy visits, are asking staff how we can protect them while here, and are asking for food so they don’t have to leave the home more than necessary. It’s just awful that someone with cancer who is already under tremendous stress has to worry about not just dying from cancer but dying from ICE. As staff, we feel incredibly powerless because we can give them all the information on their legal rights and how to protect themselves, and it doesn’t matter anymore."
—Oncology Social Worker, NJ
13. "During contract negotiations with our union, we made sure that there were clear guidelines for what nurses were supposed to do and who they were supposed to call. We were willing to strike on that issue."
"That being said, the hospital refuses to answer if they will require a judicial warrant or if they will roll over with an administrative warrant. While there are exceptions, most nurses and other healthcare providers will risk jail before they cooperate with ICE."
—Registered Nurse, California
14. "I am an RN at a Chronic Hemodialysis Center. ICE doesn’t understand that Hemodialysis treatments are regularly three times a week, and it is medically necessary to continue them. There is no Hemodialysis in ICE custody anywhere. Some patients are afraid to leave home to get their treatments. Mostly for their adult children of caregivers."
And finally...
15. "There is a patient that came in while in ICE custody. 2 agents have been by their side the entire time they’ve been at my hospital, which I believe has been about a week and a half. Nurses have been asking the agents to step out during patient care. While they were outside of the room, they started walking around the unit and looking into other patient rooms."
"They have also been nasty to any staff that is a minority. A few days after they arrived, they detained one of our nursing assistants from the same unit, which cannot be a coincidence. I walked past the room on my way out today, as this is the route I already take to my car every day, and both agents were in plain clothes. It’s getting fucking scary out here."
—r/nursing
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
Responses have been edited for length/clarity.