LOS ANGELES – A Latino civil rights organization is taking a first step toward a civil lawsuit and seeking $250,000 in damages from Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for an immigrant who was subjected to discriminatory and unlawful treatment while receiving medical treatment under continuous surveillance by federal immigration agents stationed in his room.
MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) represents Bayron Rovidio Marin in a claim filed last week under the California Tort Claims Act (CTCA) against Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and its staff. The CTCA allows individuals to seek damages from state or local government entities for wrongful acts committed by government employees in the course of their duties. The medical center is part of the Los Angeles County healthcare system. According to the claim, hospital personnel allowed federal agents to dictate the pace and parameters of Marin’s medical treatment, restricted access to his family and attorneys, and failed to protect his privacy and civil liberties while he was hospitalized from Aug. 27 to Oct. 7, 2025.
“Los Angeles County health care providers should have zero complicity in the federal government’s mistreatment of immigrants and trampling of rights,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “ICE’s practices have rendered its agents disentitled to any deference from professional healers when the agents cannot provide proof of judicial sanction for their exercising custody over someone needing treatment in a hospital.”
Marin was initially detained by masked federal agents in unmarked vehicles and sustained serious injuries to his knees and legs. He was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for treatment, where he was admitted under a pseudonym and placed under constant guard by federal agents. Marin asked hospital staff to notify his emergency contact about his condition, but staff deferred to agents who prohibited contact despite targeting him for arrest without cause
“California has expressed a very clear policy interest against using state resources to facilitate mass deportation,” said Eduardo Casas, MALDEF staff attorney. “Harbor’s conduct raises serious questions about whether staff unlawfully allowed federal agents to use the hospital in service of their primary objective to deport Mr. Marin quickly before his family or attorneys could learn of his whereabouts.”
During his stay at Harbor-UCLA, Marin was reportedly chained to a bed, medicated, and questioned about his immigration status in the presence of federal agents despite his objections, and isolated from family and counsel. Attorneys say he endured physical injuries and continues to suffer psychological and emotional harm stemming from his hospitalization. At one point, the claim says, a nurse made a joke about Marin being sent to Guantanamo Bay, the detention camp in Cuba where terrorism suspects are held.
“Mr. Marin’s dignity and humanity were trampled by ICE when he was first arrested. But his trauma and injuries were exacerbated when he was taken to the hospital,” Nicolas Thompson-Lleras, Staff Attorney, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “All patients should be treated under the same standard of care and dignity, regardless of their alleged status. While we are grateful to the doctors and nurses who helped Mr. Marin heal, medical facilities must do more to protect both their care teams and patients against unlawful federal interference. We hope this claim, which seeks to offer Mr. Marin the first steps towards justice, will send a message loud and clear that immigrants have rights and that they are not alone.”
According to the CTCA submission, Harbor’s conduct while Marin was unlawfully detained constitutes an egregious violation of his rights as a patient and as a California resident. The hospital’s acquiescence to federal immigration agents’ demands, without regard for Marin’s privacy during medical treatment, violated California law and may have exceeded the bounds of permissible cooperation under the state’s sanctuary policies and other legal protections.
Read the CTCA letter HERE.