After being held for several hours at a Texas healthcare clinic during her annual gynecological exam, Blanca Borrego was arrested in her examination room. Medical staff delayed Blanca and notified authorities that she was at the clinic.
Borrego’s oldest daughter said she watched police take her mother from the clinic. They said to her, “We’re going to take her downtown, she presented a form of false identification,” and added, “She’s going to get deported.”
“They took her into the examination room solely for the purpose of being arrested,” said Clarissa Guajardo, Borrego’s attorney. “I just have a very hard time with that. I think it’s a violation of HIPAA laws.”
Borrego was appearing at Northeast Women’s Healthcare clinic for the first time to be seen by a doctor she had a previously seen elsewhere.
Borrego’s family has stated that she is being held on $35,000 bond.
The Houston Press questioned the clinic about whether it’s their policy to contact the authorities if they suspect a patient is an undocumented immigrant. A spokeswoman for the clinic’s parent company, Memorial Hermann, named Alex Loessin answered, “As you know, because of patient privacy, I am unable to provide comment.”
