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We begin here at 11 with ICE agents at White Memorial Hospital in Boille Heights. Good evening and thank you for joining us. I'm Jonathan Gonzalez. Kathy is off tonight. The Boil Heights community and elected officials protested today after the hospital says ICE blocked off its ambulance entrance for up to two hours last night and patients had to be diverted elsewhere. NBC4's Kenan Willard shows us the concerns from protesters and the response from the hospital. I got a boil height. Outrage on the east side today after a hospital says federal immigration agents cut off access to its emergency department.
What happened last night at this hospital was an affront to the wishes of the American people and to the people of Los Angeles. White Memorial Medical Center says overnight ICE agents brought someone in their custody to the hospital for treatment. The hospital says while agents were on site, they formed a line and blocked the entrance to the emergency department. White Memorial says ambulances had to be diverted to other hospitals for about two hours. Video from the scene shows a tense standoff between agents and neighbors calling for them to leave. The LAPD telling us officers were called to maintain public safety, but no one was
detained. We want to clarify the hospital's coordination with ICE. What is that coordination? Today, state and local leaders and members of the community came together in Boille Heights to speak out against what happened, saying the hospital needs to do more to make people feel safe to seek care here. We're saying we want accountability and we want them out of Boil Heights, out of LA, out of California. The crowd marching to the entrance the agents blocked last night, delivering their demands to the hospital's president. That should not have existed. More needs to be done. In response, hospital leadership said White Memorial doesn't
cooperate with immigration enforcement and the agents did not get permission to block the ambulance entrance. White Memorial says they called 911 to ask LAPD for help. When they block access to our patients in our communities, they do us a disservice and they have dishonored our commitment. Experts say federal law allows ICE agents to access public areas and hospitals like parking lots. Here in California, a state law SB81 passed last year bars immigration agents from private areas like patient rooms unless they have a warrant or court order. Some in the crowd calling on White Memorial to do everything possible to follow that law and avoid any appearance that they're working with ICE.
You got to do far more because the health and the well-being of our community is at stake. We're going have to work more closely with community organizations and Alexis to say, "Hey, here's what we're doing. Help us." Katan Willard, NBC4 News. And tonight, ICE confirms they had taken a detainee to White Memorial Hospital last night for treatment and added that the agency does not target hospital, schools, or churches. As far as the protests that followed, while the LAPD did not make any arrests themselves, first Assistant US Attorney Billy says federal agents did arrest two people who were now being charged with assaulting a federal officer. However, did not
provide any more details about those alleged assaults.
