Immigration advocacy and civil rights organizations sent a lengthy memo on Monday to more than 400 healthcare providers across Michigan, offering their guidance regarding immigration enforcement.
“Healthcare facilities are not required to assist with immigration enforcement, to change intake practices, or to disclose patient information absent a valid legal process,” the 12-page memo from the ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center read, adding that requests from law enforcement should be directed to legal and compliance professionals.
Christine Sauvé of the immigrant rights center said while her organization doesn’t have a full count of immigration enforcement activity in hospitals, clinics, or other medical settings, “We're increasingly getting reports of these types of incidents.”
She added the center had also received information regarding immigration officers transporting people to healthcare facilities who appeared to have required medical attention due to or in the wake of their arrest, or those who were taken out of detention centers for treatment.
Last year, a survey of immigrants found that half of “likely undocumented” adults reported that they or their family members have avoided seeking medical medical care due to immigration-related concerns since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025 on the promise of deporting a million people a year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have made arrests around healthcare facilities and have been seen inside of them – including in Ann Arbor, though the fear of their presence in such settings has had an outsized impact.
A survey of medical providers by the Migrant Clinicians Network and Physicians for Human Rights released in November found that 84% reported seeing a decline in patient visits, though only 7% had personally seen immigration officers at their workplaces.
The reluctance of people who may not have permanent legal status to seek medical care is something Dr. Lauren Snyder said she's witnessed as a family physician in West Michigan.
While she hasn't encountered immigration officers in her workplace, Snyder says she's seen the impact of increased enforcement, including among children in a family she’s seen for almost 10 years — although she might have missed it had she not been listening closely.
“Is your parent detained?” isn’t “one of our routine childhood screening questions,” she said, although the detention of parents can have negative implications for a child’s wellbeing.
Once she realized that a parent had been taken into custody by immigration officers, she said “the whole tenor changed” from concerns about lipid and cancer screenings to “caring about their basic safety.”
Last February, the Trump administration rescinded guidance that discouraged immigration enforcement in so-called “protected areas” such as hospitals, schools, and houses of worship.
Regarding the change, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time, “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
