White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged a question Thursday that should have had a simple answer: Should emergency rooms turn away dying immigrants?
In a tense back-and-forth with reporters, Leavitt was asked point-blank whether emergency rooms should check immigration status before providing care to patients in critical condition. Rather than affirming the longstanding federal law that guarantees treatment for anyone needing emergency medical attention, regardless of legal status, Leavitt sidestepped.
“Should ERs check immigration status before treating a dying patient?” a reporter asked.
Her response: “That’s probably not a question for me to answer. I think that’s a question for healthcare professionals and legal access.”
Pressed further, she continued to shift the focus to broader immigration talking points, claiming, “Tens of millions of illegal aliens from all over the world to come into our country. And then they allowed those illegals from all over the world to get free benefits.”
She didn’t stop there. “And there were higher wait times at hospitals under the Biden administration. We saw these illegals committing crimes all over our country, and they’re getting things for free.”
What she did not say—at any point—was that dying immigrants deserve lifesaving medical care.
When asked again if the Trump administration supported EMTALA, the law that has, since 1986, required emergency departments to treat all patients regardless of their ability to pay or immigration status, Leavitt brushed it off.
“I don’t speak for emergency rooms across the country,” she said. “I speak for the president of the United States. And that’s what he believes on this policy.”
The refusal to commit to a basic humanitarian principle —lifesaving emergency care for the dying— comes amid heightened GOP efforts to tie immigration to nearly every domestic policy debate, including the recent government shutdown over healthcare provisions for undocumented migrants.
There was no clarification from the White House after the briefing.
Watch the clip below.
Karoline Leavitt declines to say if emergency rooms should treat dying immigrants.pic.twitter.com/Y60uPDXO2h
— Molly Ploofkins (@Mollyploofkins) October 2, 2025
