Protest Erupts Outside White Memorial Medical Center After ICE Transports Patient
According to abc7.com, local residents and activists assembled on Saturday afternoon outside Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center in Boyle Heights to protest the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel at the location.
Federal agents arrived at the medical center around midnight with a person in their custody who required medical treatment, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Video footage from the scene captured tense confrontations between community members and federal agents outside the hospital, along with moments where a teenage girl received assistance after being pepper-sprayed during the demonstration.
As ICE agents left the area, Los Angeles Police Department officers followed closely behind.
Councilmember Condemns Federal Presence at Hospital
The demonstration drew community advocates and Nithya Raman, who condemned the federal presence at the hospital.
What happened last night at this hospital was an affront to the wishes of the American people and to the people of Los Angeles.
During the demonstration, protesters gathered around hospital president Daniel Fontura, urging him to address the crowd with chants of Give him the Mic! Give him the Mic.
Fontura noted that federal officers brought an individual requiring medical attention into the facility and turned down requests that would have permitted agents to stay during a consultation between physician and patient.
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.
Fontura also explained why hospital officials contacted the LAPD.
When they lined up to prevent access to EMS trucks and ambulances to our facility, that was not done with our approval. So when those things happen we called LAPD and said help us with this predicament.
The LAPD confirmed that officers responded to the incident to keep the peace. Fontura added that the hospital plans to improve communication between hospital security personnel and the LAPD to strengthen protocols when dealing with ICE agents. A request for comment was submitted to the Department of Homeland Security by Eyewitness News, though no reply has been provided yet.
