September 8, 2025 - Sacramento, CA - Last week, the California Legislature passed SB 81, authored by Senator Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley). The bill would require healthcare providers to establish nonpublic areas to ensure they continue to be safe spaces for our communities, and support patient care and privacy. SB 81 protects the privacy and dignity of all Californians, regardless of immigration status, and ensures they can seek care when they need it, free from fear or intimidation.
“I’m grateful to my colleagues for advancing SB 81 with the urgency that is needed in this critical time where many Californians don’t feel safe to get the care they need. Healthcare is a human right — and no one should have to choose between seeking medical care and fearing harassment or intimidation. Not in California. Not anywhere,” said Senator Jesse Arreguín.
In a two-month period starting June 6, 4,163 Californians were arrested by masked, armed agents in raids across Southern California on public streets, at work sites and in sensitive locations like health care facilities, churches and schools. In recent months, there have been reports of agents, oftentimes without valid judicial warrants, masked and unidentifiable, entering healthcare facilities to arrest and detain people. In one incident at a surgery center in Ontario, staff were arrested after they asked masked agents for identification and to show a valid judicial arrest warrant that the agents did not provide. In another incident at a hospital in Glendale, a patient was removed by agents despite her physician warning the agents that the patient was medically unstable and not clear for discharge. Health care workers have reported that masked agents have sought access to other health facilities or patient’s private information without a valid warrant. These incidents have created hostile environments, placing the safety of patients, staff, and visitors at risk and deterring people – including children and families – from accessing the health care and essential services they need.
In 2017, SB 54, the California Values Act — a landmark victory for immigrant rights — was signed into law, and this bill builds upon its foundation by codifying guidance from California’s Attorney General into law. SB 54 was created in response to actions by the first Trump Administration to attack and intimidate California’s immigrant communities. California’s immigrant communities are the backbone of the state’s economy and its culture and they must be protected so that no one should have to choose between seeking medical care and fearing detention or deportation.
"Immigrant Californians should not have to fear being indiscriminately targeted and arrested when they seek health care. SB 81 is an important step in protecting patients from warrantless raids and creating strong protocols to make health care facilities safe spaces," said Shiu-Ming Cheer, Deputy Director of Immigrant & Racial Justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center.
“Hospitals and health care facilities play a critical role in protecting our communities, not just during emergencies, but in helping patients to consistently manage their health. Their work protects all of us. But their work is undermined when people are afraid to come in for care, said Gary Poe, Outreach Coordinator for St. John’s Community Health, Los Angeles, Member SEIU 721. “No one in California should worry about being detained or deported while seeking the healthcare they need and deserve. SB 81 will help keep fear of deportation and detention out of our healthcare system.”
“California’s legislature has made its position clear: Our health system must be a place of care, not fear,” said Dr. Seciah Aquino, Executive Director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. “As federal threats escalate fear and anxiety at an all-time high, patients are having to choose between healthcare and safety while physicians are being forced to choose between their duty of care and threats of legal retaliation. SB 81 actively protects immigrant families in what should be one of the safest settings, a doctor’s appointment. We applaud the legislature for advancing this critical bill and urge Governor Newsom to sign SB 81 to begin restoring trust, safeguarding dignity, and ensuring that the very communities who help build California can access care without intimidation.”
“As nurses, we not only take care of our patients, we advocate for them every day,” said Sandy Reding, RN and president of California Nurses Association. “That means rejecting this push to allow immigration authorities to do harm in spaces where people are trying to heal through open threats to immigrant communities, disregarding traditional safe havens. This new legislation is essential to protecting our patients to safely receive care without fear or intimidation and ensuring we can provide health care, which is a human right, without interference.”
California has the largest immigration population in the nation, where 1 in 4 Californians are immigrants, 1 in nearly 2 California children live in an immigrant family, and nearly half of California workers are immigrants or children of immigrants. According to the California Budget & Policy Center, undocumented immigrants in California paid $8.5 billion in taxes in 2022, helping fund critical programs and public services. California’s immigrant community is not only essential, but also foundational -- they care for our children, grow our food, build our homes, drive our progress, and fuel the 4th largest economy in the world.
The bill, one of the key priorities of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, has received support from dozens of organizations, and is co-sponsored by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the California Immigrant Policy Center, the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, and the California Nurses Association.
SB 81 now heads to the Governor’s desk, who has until October 12 to take action on the bill.
Source: Senator Jesse Arreguín
