In the Headlines
January 28, 2025

Hospitals Brace for Immigration Agents, Legal Clashes

Law360

Immigration attorney Nora Katz spoke with Law360 about how hospitals and healthcare providers should respond to the Trump Administration's reversal of a Biden-Era policy discouraging federal immigration authorities from conducting enforcement activity in sensitive locations such as schools, churches and hospitals. Under the 2021 guidance, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agents avoided areas including hospitals, doctor's offices, health clinics, vaccination sites, urgent care centers and community health centers. With that policy now rescinded, Ms. Katz advised organizations to formulate response plans and ensure receptionists, providers and administrators in particular know what to do if they encounter a federal agent.

"Enforcement events are high-stress, particularly in sensitive areas like hospitals or medical centers," she said. "The best way to navigate these events is by preparing ahead of time."

One of the issues raised by the new directive, in addition to general concerns that patients will put off routine but necessary care or that providers will have to think twice before referring patients, is data privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), combined with state-level regulations, can complicate matters further.

"Privacy is a critical and highly regulated issue in healthcare," Ms. Katz said. "I expect legal questions about whether and when immigration status constitutes protected health information... This patchwork of regulation will add to the workload of healthcare and hospital attorneys, particularly those working with large health systems operating in a number of states."

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