A Kaiser Permanente office is shown in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Kaiser Permanente nurses are protesting the healthcare giant’s plan to terminate at least one nurse who is caught in a monthslong delay renewing her immigration work authorization.
The nurse was previously covered by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants temporary protections and work permits to immigrants who came to the country as children without legal status. But DACA-protected people, often called “dreamers,” are facing long renewal delays that are putting recipients’ jobs at risk.
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The nurse, who was granted anonymity under Hearst’s ethics policy because she fears being deported, filed her DACA renewal paperwork in December 2025 and is still waiting for it to be processed five months later. The Trump administration told the Associated Press last week that it is “more thoroughly screening” DACA recipients, which immigration advocates say could be grounds for the administration deporting the longtime U.S. residents.
In March, Kaiser placed the San Francisco Medical Center operating room nurse on a 30-day unpaid administrative leave, and she expects to be terminated after the leave expires on Thursday.
“I am angry. Kaiser said they have no obligation to extend my leave,” the nurse told SFGATE. “The fact they are willing to terminate employees who are so integral to this community without offering protection is completely unfair.”
Kaiser did not return multiple SFGATE requests for comment.
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The nurse said Kaiser told her that maintaining valid work authorization is her responsibility, and without it, she would be fired. As of Monday, she said Kaiser had not told her whether she would receive severance or what her next steps would be.
The nurse, who has worked for Kaiser for two years, said she loves her job and feels “helpless” and “abandoned” by the company’s decision.
“I know I’m an amazing nurse and what I do matters. I definitely developed a lot of close bonds with my colleagues as well, and I know a lot of them know I would be a loss,” she said as she fought back tears. “It would definitely hurt a department’s morale as well, which is already experiencing much strain right now.”
Kaiser is one of the country’s largest healthcare providers, with the Oakland company servicing nearly 13 million members and employing over 243,000 workers, including over 78,000 nurses, according to its website. The company has faced problems with workers in recent years. In October, Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare workers held the largest strike in the union’s history after more than 200 employees were laid off. The company cited rising healthcare costs and reduced federal funding as reasons for the layoffs. Workers, however, raised concerns that the cuts could put patient care at risk in an already stretched-thin healthcare system.
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Nurses from the California Nurses Association, the union that represents Kaiser nurses, protested the move against nurses facing DACA delays in San Francisco on Monday afternoon, accusing the healthcare company in a new release of “bolstering Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.” The administration has launched a massive immigration crackdown since President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025, with large and sometimes violent deportation operations against individuals without legal status, including in California. Trump has also repeatedly claimed that DACA is “unconstitutional” and “illegal.”
The nurse said without her job, she is now worried about making ends meet and about the ongoing uncertainty surrounding her DACA status.
“I feel paranoid, even going out, and I’m trying to lay low and stay home. I’m so happy to have family and friends who have come to keep me company,” she said. “And financially, it’s definitely worrisome. San Francisco is a very [expensive] place and city to live in. I’m trying to stay patient.”
It’s unclear how many other nurses are affected by the delay in DACA renewals. Sydney Simpson, another nurse at Kaiser and a union representative, said they did not know other nurses who are affected but said workers may not want to come forward due to risks from their immigration status.
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“It just makes me wonder how many people are affected but are too scared to say anything to anyone,” Simpson said.
Simpson and other members of the union are calling on the healthcare system to extend the nurse’s leave. In its news release, the union referenced a similar situation involving nurses in the University of California system, whose employment is protected even when they face uncertainty in renewing their DACA status.
“UC wouldn’t terminate this nurse. So Kaiser has a pathway forward here to be an example,” Simpson said. “… This is an opportunity for them to make the right choice.”
Simpson said Kaiser’s decision to terminate the nurse is an example of a broader pattern in the healthcare system, with corporate and political pressures increasingly shaping patient care decisions.
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“I feel like this situation with the DACA nurse is just another indication of the dehumanization of healthcare. It’s just decisions made based on numbers and profit and just like stepping away from compassionate care,” Simpson said.
Simpson pointed to how pressure from the Trump administration, for example, led Kaiser to pause gender-affirming care last year.
“Politics are rushing into your healthcare, and if it’s not affecting you right now, it absolutely will in the very short order,” Simpson said. “… Evidence-based care, it’s everything to us nurses, like to be practicing evidence-based care and not care based on politics.”
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Are you facing a termination from your place of employment because of delays in renewing your DACA status? Reach out to news reporter Madilynne Medina at Madilynne.Medina@sfgate.com.
