Ilektra A. and Oriana R. | Red Phoenix correspondents | Oregon–

Legacy Emanuel, a private non-profit hospital in Portland, OR, has demonstrated its willingness to continue the long-standing tradition of collaboration between business interests and agents of fascism. Former employee and Oregon Nurses’ Association member Blaire Glennon, 35, she/her, provides insight into Legacy’s disturbing policy of collaborating with ICE and putting medical patients and staff at risk.

Glennon, a registered nurse, had been working in the medical/surgical unit at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in good standing since Sep. 2021. After witnessing the brutality perpetrated by ICE & DHS against migrants and protesters in the community, she decided to take action by distributing “Know Your Rights” material on how to act around ICE and other violent government agencies to her co-workers. In this interview with a Red Phoenix correspondent, her recount of events describes the retaliation from her former employer and their complicity in ICE violence. 

Describing the events that led up to the disciplinary action, she says she “was taking a patient down to the ambulance bay to be transported to another facility… I had a bunch of red cards in my pocket because I had been putting them in the breakrooms at my hospital.” 

For readers who don’t know, red cards are small, wallet-sized cards that inform immigrants of their constitutional rights when encountering ICE and other law enforcement.

“I asked the ED (emergency department) charge nurse if she wanted [some], she said no, and then I left the ED. A security guard overheard the interaction and reported me to the house supervisor, who contacted the administrator on call, [against whom] I had submitted an ethics report .. earlier in the year for making fraudulent meeting records, which was well-documented. Then, that supervisor and the security guard looked through security footage to find me and confronted me about having red cards.”

When asked what policy in the employee code of conduct they were referring to that disallows nurses from providing coworkers with red cards, Glennon says management couldn’t tell her. 

“They just said that management doesn’t want red cards in the hospital. I asked for the house supervisor’s name, which [I was later told] she found threatening. After that interaction on November 28, I worked two more shifts… then I was put on paid administrative leave on December 2, and then [made to attend] an investigatory meeting on December 4.”

She goes on to relay how hospital management had been hostile to her since February 2025 for “trying to [uphold] Oregon staffing committee rules and regulations.” She says she “didn’t understand why they weren’t following [the rules] and continued to question them. From September 2021 to January 2025 I had no issues, and I’d never gotten in trouble before. It’s only once you start speaking up that you get retaliated against.”

Unfortunately, the problem doesn’t simply end at fostering a hostile work environment. Glennon recounts how Legacy Emanuel is actively collaborating with ICE and essentially allowing them full reign of the facility. 

“[They’ve] said to nurses during town halls that ICE detainees don’t have the same HIPAA rights as other patients, which is not true; that we can’t make ICE leave the [patients’ treatment] room. We can request it, but if they refuse, there’s no way to force them to leave. Legacy was providing ICE with what I would call ‘fake badges.’ Sometimes they don’t like to wear ID in the hospital, so [they’ve] been providing them with contractor badges that [just] say ‘Law Enforcement’ on them. Legacy has also said that ICE can determine care for a detainee up to and including early discharge,” and that the only thing that agents have to do to gain access to the hospital is to flash their badge to security. “[So far], ICE isn’t there looking for anyone, they’re just bringing in people they injure out in the field.”

In a blatantly opaque and undemocratic fashion, management at no point prior to disciplining Glennon made any effort to notify her that she wasn’t allowed to distribute KYR material.

“I don’t recall anything in their protocols talking about red cards. And they definitely didn’t, like, say it to me directly. It’s an environment of retaliation. I’m not the only one that they’ve retaliated against for speaking up about ICE, I’m just the one who got pushed out.” She says there were “more than five” other nurses who faced disciplinary action to one degree or another for distributing ICE defense information and speaking up against Legacy Emanuel’s ICE policies.

Glennon informs us that Legacy Emanuel’s officially stated policy regarding what to do if ICE shows up is not just one of capitulation and collaboration, but one that deliberately puts both patients and staff in even more danger by refusing to engage in a bare minimum level of identity verification. 

“Their official policy is to have security ‘check’ if it’s ICE” (remember, a simple flash of a badge is all that’s needed!) “and follow their regular ‘Law Enforcement Protocol’. The issue is they want us to treat all law enforcement the same, but that’s not gonna work with ICE, because ICE isn’t behaving like other law enforcement. Honestly, since this ICE stuff has been going on, people have been questioning law enforcement actions in the hospital in general. Like, we need to make sure that all of these county officers and PPB are acting appropriately [too].”

When we asked her if any of the ICE personnel that showed up were concealing their identities, she argues that “not having a [ID] badge is concealing your identity. Most people who are working in the hospital, even if they’re contractors, have to have a [ID] badge. I have [even] seen pictures of them outside the hospital wearing masks.” 

And how often did ICE show up without identification? “Like two to three times a week,” Glennon tells us.

While Legacy Emanuel has apparently been allowing ICE to bring in detainees they injure in the field for at least the past 15 years, Glennon says their law enforcement policies took their current form as recently as October 2025.

“They were really pushing for staff to ‘feel comfortable’ with ICE being around because they want to be like the ‘go-to’ hospital for ICE to bring people they injure. We’re not sure if there is a contract between them or not. I don’t think they would ever [directly] admit they want to help ICE, but they do say they want to be the ‘law enforcement destination’ hospital in the [Portland] metro area.” She also informs us that there are, allegedly, strong ties between ICE, local and federal law enforcement and Legacy Emanuel’s upper management…, “but I mean, I can only speculate how deep those go…”

And has the hospital’s management even acknowledged or admitted that this policy puts both patients and staff in danger? She says “they’ve acknowledged that it’s like a ‘morally grey area’ for some… I think sometimes the staff has it normalized to them, but if you talk about it with anyone outside the hospital … people are pretty horrified. A lot of Legacy nurses have wanted to work internally to change these policies, but that is not working at this point.”

From what Glennon has provided us insight into, despite Legacy Health’s own claims that they “value the ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)” and that they “acknowledge our country’s history of systemic racism…,” it’s clear to see they haven’t been doing a particularly good job at living up to the inclusive ideals and principles they claim to uphold. 

So what can Legacy Emanuel do to rectify its actions? What are the demands of its workers in terms of how it can change its policies to better ensure the safety of both patients and staff? Glennon tells us that “there was a petition ONA sent out that was signed by 350 employees. We want Legacy to stop openly helping ICE. They are abusing human rights and doing human trafficking and that’s not right or what’s best for the community.”

We then asked Glennon how, in her opinion, can we fix the fundamental problems that led to this incident, and how do we begin building a better world where these kinds of blatant abuses of human rights and dignity no longer happen?

“I think we need stronger labor laws in this country, we need more people to be in strong unions, and we need private organizations to be held accountable… I have talked to a few city councilors and they said there’s nothing they can do… I have not seen any clear actions recently from the city of Portland. I know they reaffirmed their sanctuary city status and made a new detention center fee that will go into effect in a couple years (!). But they need to be held accountable. I think DSA could be a lot more present for this issue (4 out of 12 members on the Portland city council are DSA!). DSA is not pushing its elected officials to do anything… they aren’t doing enough…”

“…Because Legacy is far from the only private company in Portland that helps ICE. There are companies that go in and out of that ICE facility, like, every day. Construction contractors, coffee companies (like Canteen), paper shredders (at least two), Sunbelt Rentals, and a non-profit called the Soup Ladies and the ‘community service’ they offer is just helping ICE… we need comprehensive immigration reform. People should be able to vote much sooner than they can, and [be able to have] proper work documentation, because when people don’t [have that], they can be more easily exploited… they can get hurt on the job, and have no recourse over that. And, you know, that’s not only a financial disaster for them, it’s also [one] for everyone else when private companies aren’t being held accountable at all.”

When private organizations like Legacy Emanuel aren’t actually obligated to serve the communities they’re a part of, and are instead beholden to the interests of a few wealthy donors with ties to law enforcement, the ruling class, local business elites, and powerful religious institutions, transparency and accountability fall by the wayside. 

Glennon’s account highlights a fundamental shortcoming of working for progressive change within the confines of institutions which are entrenched in a society characterized by stark class and racial oppression, and who are beholden to the interests of those who perpetuate that oppression. 

It’s clear to see that if real, lasting change is to be made, it has to come directly from us, the working class, and we have to begin relying more on each other, heightening our level of militancy and organization, strengthening the bonds between people within our communities, and coming together as one to protect the most vulnerable among us, to show the powers that be that for every injustice they perpetuate against us, swift and severe consequences will be felt in all sectors of the economy and society at large. Divided, we are weak. United, there is nothing we cannot achieve.

Latest update: “Oregon Nurses Call on Legacy Health to Sign Binding Agreement After Ignoring ICE Concerns” | Jan. 8, 2026

Categories: Health Care, Immigration, Labor, U.S. News