Chloe Freeman, a 33-year-old nurse from Whitmore Lake, Michigan, is facing a federal misdemeanor charge that could mean up to a year in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan has the power to drop it, and it should.

Prosecutors say that in May, Freeman helped an injured patient leave Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital while he was in immigration custody. According to court records reported by MLive, the man was hurt during a Border Patrol arrest earlier that night and arrived at the hospital with a bleeding head wound. Prosecutors allege Freeman used her badge to open a door, and the man walked out through the ambulance bay a minute later.

Investigators say Freeman told them she disagreed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) splitting up families. She also said she didn't think the man was in custody, since no agents were in the room with him. She has not been convicted of any crime, and her lawyer has not commented on the case.

What happened that night raises real questions, including concerns that the man left before his treatment was finished. Those questions deserve answers. But a federal criminal case against a nurse is a heavy response, and it risks telling healthcare workers everywhere that showing compassion for a patient could cost them their freedom and their career.

Nurses are trained to put patients first. Prosecuting one for acting on that instinct won't make hospitals safer or fairer.

Sign the petition to ask the U.S. Attorney's Office to drop the charge against Chloe Freeman before this case goes any further.