During his first days in office, President Donald Trump’s administration threw out a 2011 policy that limited immigration enforcement officers’ ability to make arrests inside “sensitive areas” including churches, schools and hospitals.
The move is part of Trump's campaign promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the country.
Paul Chavez, the litigation director for Americans for Immigrant Justice, a Florida-based nonprofit law firm providing free legal services for immigrants, said — despite the change in policy — immigration enforcement authorities have limited access to hospitals.
They’re allowed to enter any public areas of a hospital, but entering private areas like examination rooms require a warrant or consent from an authorized person, said Chavez.
“ So basically the waiting room in a hospital is public, but as soon as you go through those doors, back to the doctor's offices, back to the emergency room, back to the hospital floors, those are going to be private,” Chavez said. “And that's true whether it's a privately owned hospital or a public hospital.”
Two of the largest hospital operators in South Florida told WLRN that they will comply with federal and state immigration regulations, which require them to treat all patients regardless of their immigration status.
“We provide care to all patients who come to our facilities in accordance with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA),” a spokesperson for HCA Healthcare’s East Florida division, which operates 14 hospitals in South Florida, said in a statement.
EMTALA is a federal regulation requiring hospitals to provide emergency medical services to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay, including undocumented immigrants.
“We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as part of any criminal investigations, understanding that privacy laws mandate we only grant access to patients or release private patient information through a court order,” a spokesperson for the Jackson Health System wrote to WLRN in a statement.
READ MORE: 'Know your rights': South Florida immigration advocates create rapid response hotline
Chavez noted that valid judicial warrants that would grant entry into a private area are signed and dated by a judge or magistrate.
“ Oftentimes ICE will show up to places and they'll have a notice to appear that says warrant on it. It doesn't give them any authority to actually search what would otherwise be private areas. So, that designated person really needs to be careful that what they're seeing is an actual search warrant,” he said.
Even before the Trump administration changes, the Florida Legislature had passed a strict immigration law nearly two years ago — SB 1718 — which requires hospitals accepting Medicaid to inquire about patients’ immigration status.
Immigrant advocate groups in Florida told the Associated Press last year that they had sent thousands of text messages and emails and held clinics to help people understand the limitations of the 2023 law — including that law enforcement agencies wouldn’t know an individual’s status because the data would be reported in aggregate. The advocates said the law pushed many undocumented immigrants to leave the state.
Another special session on immigration
On Tuesday, the Legislature opened yet another special session to consider a package of bills targeting illegal immigration. Unlike the previous special session, Gov. Ron DeSantis will be supporting the lawmakers.
The package of bills lawmakers offered includes many previous proposals, with the overall goal of boosting state and local participation in the federal government's work to arrest, detain and deport people in the country without legal authorization.
A notable change in the compromise legislation includes doing away with the provision that would have created a new role of chief immigration officer to be held by the state's agriculture commissioner — an idea DeSantis vehemently opposed. Instead, the measure would create a new state board of immigration enforcement, made up of the governor, the ag commissioner and the other two members of Florida's Cabinet.
It's unclear if the new bill has more language directed at immigrants and hospitals. The new package also includes proposals that DeSantis had pushed lawmakers to include, such as making it a state crime to enter Florida without legal authorization. Another DeSantis-backed measure would require pretrial detention for people in the country without legal authorization who are charged with forcible felonies.
READ MORE: New powers will allow Florida police to interrogate, arrest suspected undocumented immigrants
Like the previous measure, the compromise bill would increase criminal penalties for immigrants without legal authorization who commit crimes and mandate the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses. The measure would also repeal a state law allowing Florida students who don't have legal immigration status to qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.
Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, released summaries of bills that include a series of steps aimed at helping carry out Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
“Over the last several weeks, there has been a great deal of productive discussion on how the state of Florida can best assist President Trump’s efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration, with a particular focus on partnerships between local, state and federal law enforcement to arrest, detain, and deport criminal illegal immigrants,” Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said in a joint memo to lawmakers about the newly called special session.
DeSantis issued a statement that described Albritton and Perez as “great partners.”
“With the enactment of these policies, Florida will help the Trump administration to deliver on the president’s historic mandate to end illegal immigration,” DeSantis said in the statement. “This is a big win for the people of Florida and demonstrates that we will continue to lead."
The Associated Press and News Service of Florida contributed to this story.
