To: Ventura County Health Care Agency, Ventura County Board of Supervisors, and Hospital & Clinic Administrators. 
  We, the undersigned physicians, healthcare professionals, staff, and community members, call upon Ventura County health leaders to urgently reaffirm our commitment to protecting the dignity, safety, and access to care for every person who walks through our clinics and hospital doors—regardless of immigration status. Increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity near and in our healthcare facilities in Ventura County has instilled widespread fear and trauma within our immigrant communities. We have seen patients cancel appointments, forgo preventive care, and avoid seeking medical attention altogether—out of fear that accessing healthcare could lead to detention or deportation. These disruptions to daily life will have long-lasting consequences on both physical and mental health. Additionally, members of our own healthcare workforce—including DACA recipients—are vulnerable, living with the same fear of deportation, which threatens not only their wellbeing but also the continuity of care for our patients.   We believe: • Healthcare spaces are sacred and must be free from surveillance, enforcement, or intimidation. 
• No one should have to choose between safety and medical care. 
• A patient’s immigration status is private and should never be discussed, documented, or used to deny care. 
• Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege.

 We call on Ventura County leadership and clinical institutions to: 1. Declare all county clinics and hospitals (including surrounding parking lots) as ICE-freezones where enforcement is not permitted without a judicial warrant.
 2. Install visible signage and provide clear verbal reassurance that immigration status is never asked about or shared within our healthcare system.
 3. Train all clinical and front office staff in patient confidentiality protections, Know Your Rights principles, and how to respond if ICE presents. 
4. Affirm publicly and institutionally that we are committed to care for all, including our undocumented neighbors. Ventura County has long been a community rooted in promoting healthcare for everyone without discrimination and prioritizing those most in need of care. Our county hospitals and ambulatory health centers should be places of safety—not surveillance. We, as physicians and health advocates, will continue to care for all who seek healing. We ask that our health system stand beside us.       Endorsed by:

Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), Ventura County

California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP), Ventura Chapter 

Mixteco Indigena Organizing Project (MICOP)

Friends of Fieldworkers

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), Ventura Chapter

Ventura County California Nurses Association