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The man, whom the Star is only identifying by his first name, Francisco, was detained when leaving St. Joseph’s Hospital with a cousin who had sought emergency care there, his attorney, Luis Campos, told the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

When the two men exited St. Joseph’s on Tuesday afternoon, non-uniformed agents emerged from an unmarked Chevy Tahoe and called out the cousin’s name, Campos said. While his cousin broke into a run and avoided the agents, Francisco was detained and is now in the Florence Correctional Center, with a hearing scheduled for May 15, Campos said.

Before being discharged, Francisco’s cousin was repeatedly questioned about whether he had a Social Security number or legal status, which he did not, said Francisco’s wife, Rosa. The manner of questioning made the family suspect the hospital employee contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Rosa, who said she was present at the hospital on Tuesday during the questioning, before she left to pick up her daughter from school.

If she hadn’t left when she did, “I think they would have arrested me, too,� she said in Spanish.

The Star is only identifying the couple by their first names, even though Rosa and her two daughters have asylum protection and an ongoing process to secure lawful permanent residency, also known as a green card. But Rosa said they still fear deportation, as the Trump administration is also targeting immigrants with legal status and reversing previously granted protections for asylum seekers.

Rosa said she and her daughters, 11 and 16, are devastated by Francisco’s arrest.

“For the past five years, he’s been raising my daughters. The separation is shocking to them,� said Rosa who, like Francisco, is from Sonora. “If he’s deported, it would be to Mexico. But we can’t go back there.�

The Star emailed questions Friday about the circumstances of Francisco’s arrest to Patti Tanner, the media-relations contact listed on the website of Carondelet Health Network, St. Joseph’s parent company, with no immediate response. The Star also left multiple messages at St. Joseph’s Hospital on Friday with no response.

ICE spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe did not respond to the Star’s Friday request for comment on the ICE operation outside St. Joseph’s.

Rosa is adamant that her husband has no criminal record, nor any prior deportations, Campos said.

President Donald Trump and his supporters previously said their mass deportation campaign would focus on dangerous criminals and those who had already been ordered deported, Campos said.

“At this point, I think that’s out the window,� he said.

Hospitals no longer safe spaces

In January, the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security reversed its long-standing guidance that restricted ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement at “sensitive locations,� including hospitals, churches and schools.

Under the previous guidance, which was still in effect in Trump’s first term, immigration officers generally had to get approval for enforcement operations at those locations, with some exceptions, such as national security, the Associated Press reported.

Heightened ICE enforcement at hospitals will result in needless suffering and delayed medical care, said Sarah Roberts, an immigrant-rights advocate who volunteers with ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s Coalición de Derechos Humanos, or Human Rights Coalition.

Roberts is a retired registered nurse and worked at St. Mary’s Hospital for years.

“We have to warn the community about this, and that means they are not going to go to the hospital when they need it,� she said. “It’s going to result in people being sick and possibly dying from illness or injury, because they’re scared to go to the hospital.�

Rosa said her daughter has a medical appointment scheduled for a fingernail that has turned black, but Rosa is now fearful of attending the appointment.

On April 11, a federal judge rejected a legal challenge from 27 faith-based groups who sought protection from immigration enforcement in their houses of worship. The judge the plaintiffs hadn’t proved an imminent threat of enforcement.

Campos said hospitals should be resisting Trump’s aggressive pursuit of immigrants.

“It’s another institution that’s capitulating,� he said. “The hospital is very well-resourced. The hospital is a sensitive space. And the hospital, I believe, should be making a public display of pushing back against the government.�

Agents at TMC

Francisco’s detention outside St. Joseph’s happened during the same week that a pregnant Guatemalan woman was apprehended by border agents in the Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ desert, days before being transferred to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Medical Center to give birth on Wednesday.

Department of Homeland Security officers posted outside the woman’s hospital room were preventing anyone other than hospital staff from seeing her, Campos said Thursday.

Initially, the woman faced expedited removal, a rapid deportation without a hearing before a judge. A CBP spokesman told the Star on Thursday that the new mother would have the choice whether to take her U.S. citizen newborn with her, or leave the baby in the U.S., when she was deported.

DHS agents posted outside the woman’s TMC hospital room refused to let Campos talk to her Thursday, even though she had requested a lawyer, Campos said.

But on Friday, after a public outcry and widespread media attention, CBP appeared to reverse course: In a new statement, the agency said the woman would be given a notice-to-appear in court and the opportunity to contact a lawyer, signifying she has been put into normal deportation proceedings, rather than expedited removal.

That should give her an opportunity to pursue asylum or other humanitarian protections, said Campos, who is now formally representing the woman.

Campos got word Saturday afternoon that the woman, who is with her newborn, had just been released from DHS custody, pending her immigration hearing.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ connection

Rosa, 35, said she fled death threats in Sonora in 2019, and requested asylum for herself and her two daughters at the DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales. They eventually received asylum protection and are currently in the process of obtaining lawful permanent residency, or green cards.

Soon after arriving in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Rosa met Francisco as he was searching for work opportunities at a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ church near where she lived. After offering lunch to Francisco and some of the other workers, she quickly noticed how polite he was, and the care with which he treated her daughters, she told the Star.

As they spent time together, “I watched how he respected them, how he took care of them, holding the little one’s hand to cross the street,� she said. “He became very attached to them.�

Francisco was also gentle with Rosa and sensitive to the post-traumatic stress she experiences, she said.

“I was wounded,� she said. “When I started the relationship with Francisco, I feel like I began to heal many things.�

Even before Francisco was detained by ICE, the family was making plans for that worst-case scenario, Rosa said.

“We thought about it every day,� she said. “He always told me, ‘Our life is in God’s hands; it’s not in the government’s hands. We’re going to do what’s in our hands, but God is the one who guides our steps.’�

They downloaded an app to share each other’s locations, which is how Rosa first knew something was wrong on Tuesday, when she saw his location was the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Border Patrol station, on South Swan Road.

“I tried to stay calm and tell myself, ‘He’s just passing by there,’� she said, before she got the call from a relative of his cousin, telling her Francisco had been arrested outside St. Joseph’s.

Francisco’s cousin, who fled while Francisco was detained, called Rosa to apologize and to say he would not contact her again for a while, because he was too afraid, Rosa said.

“I said I understand, don’t worry,� she said. “I will find resources to help my husband.�

Rosa said, although some think President Trump’s rhetoric is full of empty threats to scare people, she wants people in her community to know the risk is real.

“He (Trump) is really doing it,� she said. “Many people say it’s just psychological terror, but it’s actually happening. We, the migrant community, are suffering a lot. We’re living in fear. Our children feel like they’re not safe in their schools. I want people to know that what’s happening is real.�

Rosa said she’s finding support in her community, but she advises everyone to remain vigilant.

“I think the important thing is to take care of each other, that they take care of themselves and that they don’t trust anyone,� she said. “The hospitals aren’t trustworthy either.�