ICE Visit, Reported Ambulance-Entrance Blockade Preceded Boyle Heights Protest

Federal immigration agents brought a person in their custody to Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center for medical treatment around midnight Friday, Nov. 6, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, as reported by ABC7. Community members and advocates protested outside the Boyle Heights hospital Saturday afternoon, Nov. 7.

The two events happened at different times. The Whittier Daily News reported that protesters said agents formed a line blocking the ambulance entrance for about two hours Friday night, before the Saturday march and protest.

Saturday’s march went from Mariachi Plaza to the hospital and included state Sen. María Elena Durazo and community advocates. Video showed confrontations, but accounts of what happened and who was involved differed.

The Los Angeles Times reported that federal immigration agents detained two people late Friday near the protest. Its account said video showed one person being pinned and accused of assaulting a federal agent. The LA Local attributed to an advocate the claim that the two protesters were U.S. citizens. Those accounts do not independently establish the detainees’ identities or legal status.

Mayor-elect Nithya Raman condemned the federal presence at the hospital, calling it “an affront to the wishes of the American people and to the people of Los Angeles,” ABC7 reported. The ABC7 report identified Daniel Fontura as the hospital’s president.

The episode put immigration enforcement and access to a hospital entrance at the center of a public dispute. The reported medical visit took place overnight; the march and protest followed Saturday afternoon.