In recent months, federal agents have camped out in the lobby of a Southern California hospital, guarded detained patients — sometimes shackled — in hospital rooms , and chased an immigrant landscaper into a surgical center.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have also shown up at community clinics. Health providers say that officers have tried to enter a parking lot hosting a mobile clinic, waved a machine gun in the faces of clinicians serving the homeless, and hauled a passerby into an unmarked car outside a community health center.

In response to such immigration enforcement activity in and around clinics and hospitals, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed SB 81 , which prohibits medical establishments from allowing federal agents without a valid se

See Full Page