00:00Community leaders are calling out Glendale Memorial Hospital for allowing detention officers on site.
00:05Advocates say the heavy presence is creating a hostile environment for staff and patients.
00:11Eyewitness News reporter Monica D'Ande is live in Glendale with the very latest. Monica?
00:17Colleen Phillip, good morning.
00:19It was just a couple hours ago that this area outside of Glendale Memorial Hospital was filled with people,
00:24a lot of community groups, a lot of local leaders coming out to denounce the presence of detention officers
00:29inside of the hospital here behind me.
00:31They tell me that these detention officers have been seen in the lobby area waiting for a woman who was
00:36arrested,
00:37detained, that is, last Thursday. Take a look.
00:40These pictures appear to show detention officers sitting in the hospital's main lobby.
00:45Family members of Milagro Solis Portillo say these officers have been here around the clock since she was hospitalized
00:52after being detained Thursday outside her home in Sherman Oaks.
00:55Her family says Portillo was left handcuffed and covered in vomit for over eight hours without proper medical care.
01:02Today, community members came together to condemn the presence of these detention officers
01:07and say they are only creating a hostile and frightening environment for her, other patients, and hospital staff.
01:14Everybody deserves access to health care in an environment that is safe and free from intimidation,
01:21and that is not what is happening.
01:23We'd just like to call the hospital again to tell the community why they're doing something that is not mandated
01:28under HIPAA.
01:30And second, we just want to put ice on notice that this person, this human,
01:35that you let sit in her own vomit for eight hours is a human who deserves dignity, respect, and proper
01:41medical care.
01:42A senior DHS official tells Eyewitness News Solis Portillo was arrested for crimes of false identification, theft, and burglary,
01:50adding, quote, following her arrest, she was admitted to Glendale Memorial Hospital.
01:54ICE takes its commitment to promoting safety, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.
02:04Now, in a statement, Dignity Health says they acknowledge the community's concerns regarding ICE,
02:09adding, quote, they cannot legally restrict a law enforcement or security personnel from being present in public areas,
02:15which include the hospital lobby slash waiting area.
02:19Reporting live in Glendale, Monica De Anda, ABC7 Eyewitness News.
