Oregon Nurses Assn.

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News Release

ONA Statement On The Detainment Of A Family At Adventist Hospital - 01/23/26

Reports by The Oregonian on January 23 and Noticias Noroeste that a family was detained by ICE while seeking medical care for their 7-year-old child at Adventist Health in Portland are alarming, chilling, and deeply shameful. No parent should ever be forced to weigh their child’s health against the risk of detention. No child should be subjected to this level of fear. Every child deserves access to quality and timely healthcare.  

  

Provision 8.2 of the Nurses Code of Ethics is clear: “Where there are human rights violations, nurses ought to and must stand up for those rights and demand accountability.” That is why we are speaking out. 

  

Detaining a family while they seek medical care for a child is unconscionable and does not just violate the ethical obligations of frontline caregivers; it violates the fundamental ethical obligation of healthcare institutions.  

  

ONA members—nurses and frontline caregivers across Oregon—have been warning for months about the devastating consequences of ICE enforcement occurring in or near hospitals. Hospitals must be places of healing, safety, and trust. When that trust is broken, families delay care or avoid it altogether, turning preventable and treatable conditions into life-threatening emergencies. For children, the consequences of delayed or denied care are especially severe. 

 

When law enforcement actions intrude into medical spaces, patient care is compromised—and in this case, a child’s well-being was placed at risk. This unjustified action raises urgent and disturbing questions that demand answers. Did the child ever receive the healthcare they needed? What capacity does ICE have to ensure the medical stability of a child whose parents sought emergency care in a hospital setting? Who assumed responsibility for the child’s health and safety once the family was detained, and under what clinical standards? These are not abstract concerns; they are matters of life, health, and basic human dignity. 

 

ONA calls on Oregon’s healthcare executives, hospital systems, and elected officials at every level to forcefully put an end to this heinous practice and to take immediate action to ensure that hospitals remain safe spaces for all families, without exception. ONA will continue to stand with immigrant communities, our patients, our families, and caregivers to demand accountability and protect access to care for all. 

 

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ONA Statement On The Detainment Of A Family At Adventist Hospital - 01/23/26

Reports by The Oregonian on January 23 and Noticias Noroeste that a family was detained by ICE while seeking medical care for their 7-year-old child at Adventist Health in Portland are alarming, chilling, and deeply shameful. No parent should ever be forced to weigh their child’s health against the risk of detention. No child should be subjected to this level of fear. Every child deserves access to quality and timely healthcare.  

  

Provision 8.2 of the Nurses Code of Ethics is clear: “Where there are human rights violations, nurses ought to and must stand up for those rights and demand accountability.” That is why we are speaking out. 

  

Detaining a family while they seek medical care for a child is unconscionable and does not just violate the ethical obligations of frontline caregivers; it violates the fundamental ethical obligation of healthcare institutions.  

  

ONA members—nurses and frontline caregivers across Oregon—have been warning for months about the devastating consequences of ICE enforcement occurring in or near hospitals. Hospitals must be places of healing, safety, and trust. When that trust is broken, families delay care or avoid it altogether, turning preventable and treatable conditions into life-threatening emergencies. For children, the consequences of delayed or denied care are especially severe. 

 

When law enforcement actions intrude into medical spaces, patient care is compromised—and in this case, a child’s well-being was placed at risk. This unjustified action raises urgent and disturbing questions that demand answers. Did the child ever receive the healthcare they needed? What capacity does ICE have to ensure the medical stability of a child whose parents sought emergency care in a hospital setting? Who assumed responsibility for the child’s health and safety once the family was detained, and under what clinical standards? These are not abstract concerns; they are matters of life, health, and basic human dignity. 

 

ONA calls on Oregon’s healthcare executives, hospital systems, and elected officials at every level to forcefully put an end to this heinous practice and to take immediate action to ensure that hospitals remain safe spaces for all families, without exception. ONA will continue to stand with immigrant communities, our patients, our families, and caregivers to demand accountability and protect access to care for all. 

 

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