December 2, 2025 ❧ ICE is in hospitals, a city ties wages to rent, Mohammed Ibrahim released!, elephant seals snooze on the job. 

Plus: A new, non-profit humanitarian airline, AI is training on prisoner phone calls, another senator endorses Medicare For All, and the national guard is coming to New Orleans

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HERE & ABROAD

❧ DEEP DIVE: ICE is in hospitals ❧

In January, Trump lifted a ban on immigration enforcement in sensitive spaces, including churches and hospitals. Last week, this News Briefing reported on the Trump administration’s possible plans to extend immigration raids to Spanish-speaking churches over the Christmas holidays. This week, we are talking about ICE in hospitals. 

Though no raids have yet taken place, at least one arrest has been made inside a southern California hospital and a raid has been attempted at a California mobile clinic. Across the country, ICE agents are entering private hospital spaces with detainees, intimidating non-citizens and providers alike, and impairing care. 

ICE agents have sat for days on end in hospital lobbies while detainees receive care, and in one instance lounged behind the Emergency Room check-in counter where they can overhear staff checking in new patients, unnerving staff, visitors, and patients. Agents have blocked treatment of a detainee who was screaming in pain. Agents have stood constant watch in hospital rooms as detainees, some of whom have not been formally charged, discuss and receive care—a clear violation of medical privacy. Agents have kept detainees from having contact with their attorney and their family, even if the detainee needs to ask what medications they take. Agents have pressured a detainee to say she was well enough to be discharged when she wasn’t. 

One California doctor who called an ICE facility to check on patients she had treated was told “there were no doctors at the facility [where her patients were being held] and there was no way to obtain medication.” 

As a result, non-citizens are delaying care and missing appointments. Hospitals in Los Angeles have seen ER visits drop and appointment no-show rates increase dramatically. A nurse in New York saw a patient die of appendicitis because she waited too long to go to the ER, afraid ICE might be there. 

ICE’s intervention in private spaces and personal medical matters is beyond cruel; it is likely illegal in many cases. Yet at least one hospital administration, Adventist Health White Memorial hospital in Los Angeles’s Boyle Heights, has a standing policy of deferring to ICE agents despite their out of bounds behavior. The guidance allows “federal immigration agents to interfere in medical decisions and block doctors from properly treating detainees who need emergency care,” LAist reported. The hospital, which is affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventist church, serves a predominantly Latino community. Doctors there “are sometimes seeing two to three detained patients per shift.” 

In the face of an aggressive federal government that insists on breaking rules and destroying rights, it is health care providers who end up having to enforce the law. Doctors at Adventist Health leaked the hospital’s policy to LAist, turning up the heat on their bosses. Nurses’ unions across the country have spoken publicly on patients’ behalf. Interns and residents are organizing training so providers know how to protect a patient in the presence of ICE agents who might pressure the provider to break the law or impede medical care.

Art from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 6, Issue 3

❧ In Other News ❧

❧ MOHAMMED IBRAHIM RELEASED! Last week, this News Briefing’s Deep Dive highlighted the story of Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian American teenager being held in Israeli prison, accused of throwing rocks at Israeli settlers. He became a poster child of sorts for abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons as the 16-year-old was beaten, starved, and contracted scabies. “Words can’t describe the immense relief we have as a family right now, to have Mohammed in his parents’ arms,” Ibrahim’s uncle, Zeyad Kadur, said in a statement. Next up, the family will celebrate Ibrahim’s sixteenth birthday, which he had while in prison.

Art by Mike Freiheit from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 6, Issue 3

❧ FIRST NON-PROFIT HUMANITARIAN AIRLINE LAUNCHES. Like many other corporations, passenger and cargo airlines can profit off of disasters, using predictive pricing algorithms to extract the most money in times of high need—dire need included. On multiple occasions, airlines in the U.S. and Canada appear to have ratcheted up prices as locals attempt to evacuate hurricanes and wildfires. Bluelight Humanitarian Airlines will turn that model on its head. The Swiss company, co-founded by the former president of the Geneva Airport, will be the first broadly marketed, not-for-profit airline. Bluelight will exclusively supply emergency services, like aid delivery, evacuation and medical transportation. “Each aircraft will be capable of transporting up to 50 tons of humanitarian aid or 200 relief workers,” Mexico Business News reported. Monocle wrote Bluelight will have a “flying hospital,” too. And it’ll provide all of this at a fixed price—no gouging here. Bluelight plans to reinvest the revenue it does make into its relief services.

Art by Julia Wald from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 6, Issue 3

❧ SENATOR CHRIS VAN HOLLEN ENDORSES MEDICARE FOR ALL. The Democrats ended the shutdown without winning an extension on Affordable Care Act subsidies, but the issue will be at the center of Congress’s last legislative session of the year. Trump has sent mixed signals so far on what kind of extension he might or might not endorse, but one person who is clear on what he wants is Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. He tweeted a video with the caption “We must stop tinkering around the edges of a broken healthcare system. Yes, let's extend the ACA tax credits to prevent a huge spike in healthcare costs for millions. Then, let's finally create a system that puts your health over corporate profits. We need Medicare for All.” With new polling showing that 65 percent of Americans support the program even if it would eliminate “most private health insurance plans,” it’s a smart move.

CURRENT-EST AFFAIRS

What’s new in the magazine this week?

The Gaza “Ceasefire” is a Total Fraud

If you are a reader of this News Briefing, the title of this recent Current Affairs article isn’t news to you. Israel has killed hundreds of Palestinians since the “ceasefire” went into effect, and just last week, Amnesty International published a legal briefing declaring that “Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues unabated despite ceasefire.” “So why,” Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic writes,” do so many journalists and politicians still accept anything [Trump and Netanyahu] say at face value? And why are they acting as if a ceasefire and a peace process were happening in Gaza, when Israel’s bombing and killing is still raging on?” Read his analysis here.

❧ In More News ❧

❧ NATIONAL GUARD COMING TO NEW ORLEANS, ICE RAIDS EXPECTED TO FOLLOW. At the request of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, Trump has approved the deployment of the National Guard in New Orleans, likely starting this month and extending through Mardi Gras. The Guard’s stated mission is to reduce general crime, but the announcement comes as speculation swirls around ICE raids, which are widely expected to begin in the city this week. Even though the Department of Homeland Security has not formally confirmed its plans—city officials have been left out of the loop—a Mexican restaurant has already closed out of fear. ICE’s presence can tank a local economy as people become afraid to visit local stores and restaurants. In Chicago’s Little Village, a Latino neighborhood, “fear of arrest has chilled activity in the neighborhood, where businesses report their sales have dropped anywhere from 20 to 70 percent,” The Washington Post reported. New Orleans is a tourism-based economy, making it vulnerable to decreased foot traffic.

Art by Harriet Burbeck from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 6, Issue 3

❧ SANTA FE TIES WAGES TO RENT. Santa Fe will tie its minimum wage to both rent and consumer prices, the Associated Press reported. If either goes up, so will the city’s minimum wage. Though Santa Fe has used a living wage model that accounted for consumer prices since 2002, it’s the first American city to add rent to the equation as it tries to keep local residents in their homes. Wages won’t rise more than 5 percent a year, but once they increase, they will not go back down. In 2027, Santa Fe’s minimum wage will be $17.50. The change will impact 20 percent of the workforce, about 9,000 people.

Art from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 6, Issue 3

❧ AI TRAINED ON PRISON PHONE CALLS PILOTED IN PRISONER SURVEILLANCE. A company called Securus Technologies has spent years recording prisoner phone calls, compiling what company president Kevin Elder called “a treasure trove” of data. Now, MIT Technology Review reports, they have used their ill-gotten digital bounty to train an AI-model that will listen in on prisoner conversations and flag potential crimes. The model can be tailored to a specific state or county. Because each call costs money, prisoners are put in a situation where they are forced to pay for their own surveillance and may be unaware their personal conversations are being used to train an AI that will spy on them.

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ANIMAL FACT OF THE WEEK

Elephant seals nap during deep dives!

Imagine yourself in the ocean. Hear the sounds of the waves crashing. Feel your body weightless. What I am describing is a sleep meditation similar to one I, myself, have used, but it is also the reality for Northern elephant seals, who take power naps while diving hundreds of feet into the ocean. The dives begin normally, and then a few minutes in, the seals begin to glide as they start to doze off. The deeper the seals dive, the deeper their sleep, until, scientist Jessica Kendall-Bar told the New York Times, “they transition to REM sleep, where they flip upside down and spin in a circle, falling like a leaf.” The whole ordeal only lasts about 20 minutes, after which Northern elephant seals return to doing what they do best: eating. They weigh about as much as a car. Next time you can’t fall asleep, imagine you’re a used sedan falling through the water like a leaf and see if that helps. 

"Wild Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris)" by Dave Hamster is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Writing and research by Emily Carmichael. Editing and additional material by Emily Topping and Nathan J. Robinson. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.

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