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Immigration Raids and Arrests - Know Your Rights

 

 

Sections:

MA Immigrant Defense Hotline 617-988-0606 - Lawyers for Civil Rights - free legal advice for immigrants facing imminent threats related to immigration enforcement, such as immigration raids or mass deportations. Callers who leave a message will receive a same-day response.

 

For Staff

What Do I Do If an ICE Agent Comes Looking for a Patient or Patient Information?

 

Guidance from MGH Office of General Counse (OGC) - Josh Abrams) (2/25)

Excerpt from above:

If law enforcement personnel, including those from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asks for a patient or patient information, do not provide any information about the patient, but rather contact your supervisor immediately.

Law enforcement personnel can wait in public areas like a waiting room or lobby but should not be allowed in patient care areas. For assistance if needed, please call PSOS for assistance with finding a space in which they can wait that is away from patients.

When Supervisors/Managers are called by staff, they should immediately:

  • Contact the MGB Office of General Counsel (OGC). A staff attorney is on call 24/7
  • During normal business hours, call (857)282-2020
  • During off hours, call your local page operator, the BWH Page Operator (617-732-6660) or the MGH Page Operator (617-726-2241) and ask to page the MGB Office of General Counsel staff attorney on call.
  • Contact Police and Security if the situation is causing conflict and/or fear

As per legal guidance, a law enforcement officer presenting a badge is not sufficient. ICE, DHS or any other governmental entity must have a warrant or court order signed by a judge. OGC should review any warrant presented to clarify what, if anything, it authorizes.

In summary, we need to be very clear that (a) we do not provide PHI to any law enforcement, including ICE, without a warrant or subpoena and (b) we do not allow ICE access to a patient without the patient’s consent or an arrest warrant. 

If a patient arrives in ICE (or any law enforcement) custody who needs medical treatment, the officers may stay with the patient, although they should stand far enough away during patient care communications with the patient so they cannot overhear (there will likely be resistance to that request in these cases, so Police and Security should assist in communicating this to the ICE agent  If ICE (or any law enforcement agent) asks us to inform them of when a patient will be discharged, they should be politely told that we do not do that.  If they want to know when a patient is being discharged, they should remain with the patient throughout the stay or present a court order requiring us to do so.  

 

See MGB Government Affairs Vitals Site Recent Federal Actions for current MGB updates and guidance (1/25)

 

Note: if you spot ICE in the hospital: remember that ICE agents may bring people in custody for medical care, and their presence does not necessarily indicate that an enforcement action is occurring. Please follow hospital guidance.

Information for Massachusetts Healthcare Providers Regarding Immigration Enforcement and Access to Care and Assistance Programs - MA Attorney General's office 1/31/25

 

Trump has rescinded Biden-era guidelines on Protected Areas/Sensitive locations - the rules no longer in effect required Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to seek their superior’s approval before arresting people at or near “sensitive locations” such as churches, hospitals, or schools, etc..

Background/prior to 1/20/25, most of the time ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents were supposed to avoid "Protected Areas" (formerly termed "sensitive locations") such as hospitals and doctors’ offices (also schools, places of worship, weddings and funerals, and public demonstrations). ICE agents have always been able enter these places if they got a supervisor’s approval, or in situations related to national security, terrorism, or public safety, or where there was an imminent risk of destruction of evidence in an ongoing criminal case. Guidelines published October 27, 2021 (and reversed by Trump in 1/25), renamed these "sensitive areas" as “Protected Areas”. More information on that 2021 policy:: Immigration Enforcement-"Protected Areas" Policy Replaces "Sensitive Location" Policy, MGH Community News, February 2022.

 

For Patients/Families

 

MA Immigrant Defense Hotline 617-988-0606 - Lawyers for Civil Rights - free legal advice for immigrants facing imminent threats related to immigration enforcement, such as immigration raids or mass deportations. Callers who leave a message will receive a same-day response.

  • Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN) hotlines: 
    • (617) 396-7143 for persons looking for a loved one who has been detained
    • (617) 637-8195 for persons who have been detained 

 

 

Know Your Rights- prepare in advance

 

  • Infographics - Immigrant Defense Project includes handouts on emergency preparedness, separate handouts on interacting with ICE at your door, in your home, on the street, if pulled over, at ICE traffic stops, common ICE ruses/lies, and rights during raids.

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  • Know Your Rights - includes upcoming trainings for immigrants, recorded trainings in multiple languages, handouts in multiple languages - MIRA Coalition (Mass. Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition)

 

 

  • Know Your Rights "Red Cards" - cards advise immigrants of their legal rights if stopped by immigration authorities and can be given to authorities to indicate that individuals are exercising their rights.

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  • Know Your Rights- MA Attorney General Andrea Campbell, 5/25. Similar information to resources above, but includes helpful section for BYSTANDERS.

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  • We Have Rights videos- What to do when interacting with ICE - ACLU
    • Available in multiple languages (English, Spanish, Urdu, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Russian and Mandarin). Provides real life action points for how to handle interactions with ICE in various settings. 
    • Video Titles (each is 3-4 minutes in length):
      • We Have Rights: When ICE is Outside our Doors
      • We Have Rights: Inside Our Homes
      • We Have Rights: In Our Communities, In Our Streets
      • We Have Rights: If ICE Arrests Us

 

Have a Plan - Family Preparedness

 

 

-This section updated 1/25