Nurse Helped Injured Mexican Escape ICE Custody at Hospital: Feds - Newsweek

A Michigan nurse has been charged with a federal misdemeanor after authorities alleged she helped an injured immigration detainee leave a hospital while he was in federal custody, according to court filings.

Chloe Renae Freeman, 33, of Whitmore Lake, was charged with instigating or assisting the escape of a person under arrest, according to a criminal complaint filed August 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine.

Freeman was working as a registered nurse at Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital when the alleged escape occurred on May 28, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint.

The allegations are contained in an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Michael Wagner submitted to establish probable cause. Freeman has not been convicted of the charge, and the complaint represents the government's account of events.

Attorney Matthew G. Borgula told Newsweek that Freeman, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, will not be making any public comment at this time.

“The individual referenced is no longer employed by Trinity Health Ann Arbor. Because this is an active legal matter, we are unable to comment on the specific allegations or ongoing court proceedings,” Trinity Health Ann Arbor told Newsweek.

Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for comment.

President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign has expanded immigration enforcement across the country, prompting protests, legal challenges and opposition from immigrant-rights groups. Federal authorities have also accused U.S. citizens and protesters of interfering with immigration enforcement operations, while federal immigration agencies have faced allegations of due process violations, excessive use of force and racial profiling.

U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Ann Arbor the night of May 28 involving a man identified in court records only by the initials OBP, according to the affidavit.

Federal authorities described the man as a native and citizen of Mexico who had previously been removed from the United States in December 2022 and had not received permission to reapply for admission.

Agents approached the man at about 9 p.m. near Washtenaw Avenue and Pittsfield Boulevard, according to the affidavit. Authorities allege he ran from the agents, tripped over a curb and struck his face on the pavement.

After taking him into custody, agents observed bleeding from his head and provided first aid for cuts on the bridge of his nose and a small contusion on his forehead, the filing said. Emergency medical personnel were called and determined that he required further evaluation.

He was subsequently taken to Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital while remaining in Border Patrol custody, according to the affidavit. The government described his detention as an administrative immigration arrest rather than a criminal arrest.

At the hospital, medical staff ordered a CT scan. A CT technologist told investigators that after the scan, two nurses, including Freeman, arrived and directed the technologist to keep the patient in the CT room rather than return him to his hospital room, according to the affidavit.

The government alleges Freeman later returned and retrieved him.

Hospital badge records showed Freeman used her badge to enter the CT room at approximately 11:31 p.m., said the affidavit. Security footage cited by investigators allegedly showed the detainee leaving through the hospital's ambulance bay doors about a minute later.

Authorities said they had been unable to locate him as of the filing of the complaint.

During a June 18 interview with hospital investigators, Freeman admitted allowing the man to leave, the FBI affidavit alleges.

According to the government's account of the interview, Freeman said she knew the patient was in immigration custody but did not believe he remained in custody at that moment because immigration agents were not physically present with him in the CT room.

Freeman allegedly told investigators that she removed the man's IV and escorted him through the ambulance bay doors. The affidavit alleges she also said she disagreed with ICE separating people from their families and knew she "was going to set him free."

"Freeman told the interviewers that she did not agree with ICE separating people from their families and that she knew she 'was going to set him free,'" Wagner wrote in the affidavit.

She also acknowledged that the man's injuries could have been life-threatening, according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors allege Freeman took the man out of the hospital before his medical care had been completed and before he had been properly discharged.

Freeman made her initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Grand on September 29 and was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond, court records show. A preliminary examination is scheduled for October 20.

The Trump administration has expanded the role of federal law-enforcement agencies in its immigration crackdown, with ICE working alongside Border Patrol, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service on immigration-enforcement operations.

The administration has also changed where immigration authorities may conduct enforcement. On January 20, 2025, then-Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman rescinded a Biden administration policy that had restricted ICE and Customs and Border Protection enforcement actions in or near so-called protected areas, including hospitals, schools and places of worship. The replacement directive eliminated categorical restrictions and instructed officers to use discretion and "common sense" when deciding whether to conduct enforcement actions in such locations.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon, James Debens and Yannick Demoustier.Update 09/30/2026, 10:44 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Borgula.

Update 09/30/2026, 12:05 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a statement from Trinity Health Ann Arbor.