'Fund Care, Not ICE': Health Care Workers, Officials Rally During Super Bowl Week as Congress Weighs Immigration Funding

Healthcare Defense Rally offers a distinct public-health lens as national attention focuses on Santa Clara County

SANTA CLARA, CA, UNITED STATES, February 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As national media attention descends on Santa Clara County in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, patients, nurses, physicians, healthcare workers, elected officials, and community leaders will gather on Wednesday, February 4, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM (Program starts at 11:30am) at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Main Entrance (700 Lawrence Expressway) for a Healthcare Defense Rally as part of a Super Bowl Week of Action.

Organized by the Defend Our Care Campaign in partnership with the California Nurses Association, the rally offers a distinct and timely angle on Super Bowl week: a public health response to Congress’s ongoing debate over funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security, at the direct expense of healthcare and Medi-Cal.

“Care, not fear,” says Monte Wright, a representative from the California Nurses Association. “No patient should ever have to choose between healthcare and freedom. Enough is enough.”

This is not a protest against hospitals or healthcare workers. It is a broad call for everyone who cares about healthcare—patients, providers, hospital leadership, and community members—to come together and urge federal representatives to stop funding ICE and reinvest those dollars into healthcare.

“This is a call to action for everyone who cares about healthcare, no matter where you get your care or what kind of hospital you work in,” says Darcie Green, Executive Director of Latinas Contra Cancer and a leader in the Defend Our Care Campaign. “ICE is brutalizing our communities, driving fear, deepening health disparities, and worsening health outcomes. As Congress decides its priorities, we must be absolutely clear: there should be no funding for ICE or DHS. The very existence of those agencies is a threat to the public’s health and those dollars must be reinvested in our healthcare system. This is a public health imperative, and this is the moment to act.”

The rally will feature:
- Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, speaking to county leadership and the voter mandate to defend healthcare
- A physician from Stanford Medicine, offering a frontline healthcare perspective as physician whose patient was taken by ICE
- Representatives from the California Nurses Association, highlighting worker and patient safety
- Patient testimony, grounding the issue in lived experience
- Community leaders and health advocates addressing the public health consequences of enforcement-driven fear and a call to action

Organizers say this moment is urgent. Congress is actively negotiating funding levels for ICE and DHS, leaving a narrowing window for public pressure and advocacy.

“Congress already hijacked billions of dollars from our healthcare system to fund billionaire tax cuts and immigration enforcement under HR1,” says Huy Tran, Executive Director of SIREN. “The result has been cuts to local hospitals, terror in our communities, heartbreak for immigrant families, deaths in detention centers, and violence in our cities. Congress should take those billions back from ICE and CBP and restore our healthcare. Not one more penny should go to immigration enforcement.”

“Hospitals are where the consequences of federal policy show up first,” organizers say. “When enforcement is funded instead of care, patients delay treatment, conditions worsen, and health disparities deepen. That is a public health crisis.”

The rally is being held at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara because it sits at the intersection of national attention, healthcare delivery, and community impact during Super Bowl week. Organizers emphasize that the message applies regardless of where someone receives care or what kind of hospital they work in—public or private, nonprofit or for-profit.

“This fight is bigger than any one institution,” organizers say. “Healthcare is interconnected. Fear in one system affects us all.”

Participants will uplift a unified message centered on:
- Fund care, not ICE
- Healthcare spaces as places of healing, not fear
- Patient and worker safety over surveillance and enforcement

The Healthcare Defense Rally will include a visual action, press remarks, and a brief teach-in on the public health impacts of immigration enforcement offering a compelling, values-driven story that connects national policy decisions to local healthcare realities during one of the most watched weeks of the year.


EVENT DETAILS:
What: Healthcare Defense Rally: Fund Care, Not ICE
Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2026
When: 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM / Program starts at 11:30am
Location: Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara – Main Entrance
700 Lawrence Expressway, Santa Clara, CA
Who:
- Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, speaking to county leadership and the voter mandate to defend healthcare
- A physician from Stanford Medicine, offering a frontline healthcare perspective as physician whose patient was taken by ICE
- Representatives from the California Nurses Association, highlighting worker and patient safety
- Patient testimony, grounding the issue in lived experience
- Community leaders and health advocates addressing the public health consequences of enforcement-driven fear and a call to action

Briana Gallo
PRxDigital
+1 408-838-3705
briana@prxdigital.com
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Other

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.