Glendale to Anaheim to Indiana: ICE’s Manhandling of Milagro.

By
Vern Nelson
– July 25, 2025Posted in: "The OC", Donald Trump, Fresh Juice, ICE raids, immigration

Image courtesy of ChatGPT 4o, Dick Dowdell

It’s all bad.

There’s no way to keep up with all the outrages committed on our communities by Trump’s Deportation Regime, ICE for shorthand. A writer has to really pick and choose. And they’re only getting started. Imagine all the books that will be written about this dark time in history – if there is a future with books. But this particular crime against humanity passed through my town of Anaheim, so here’s the story of Milagro Solis Portillo.

Pregnant, Salvadoran, 36 years old and in this country 15 years, Milagro (whose name of course means Miracle) was taken from her Sherman Oaks home July 3 by agents who refused to identify themselves or show a warrant. In Milagro’s words, “It was inhumane how ICE arrested me: they refused to identify themselves or say anything to me, they twisted my arms, they threw me on the ground. For five minutes, I asked them why they were arresting me and what I had done, and they just told me to shut up.”

Riding on the freeway in the kidnappers’ unmarked car, Milagro began to panic and vomit – she was having a miscarriage. (How do you like that – “pro-life” Trump and his “pro-life” Congress now giving women miscarriages.) Noticing this, they pulled over in a secluded area. “As I threw up, they grabbed me by my head and yelled ‘Stop! Stop!’ I was about to lose consciousness, and they laughed at me.”

After letting her sit in her vomit for EIGHT HOURS, they finally checked her in to a Glendale hospital ironically named “Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center” where the kidnappers kept a close eye on her for two long weeks – can’t let THAT one get away! After all, as DHS eventually said, Milagro “is an illegal alien from El Salvador who has been removed from the United States twice and has been arrested for crimes of false identification, theft, and burglary.”

Of course, this department, like its head and like the President who appointed her, lies like they breathe, lies like they get paid a lying bonus. The fact is Rosario’s record is clean, she has never been convicted of anything. And having ICE agents sitting in the hospital lobby – sometimes as many as eight of ’em, Milagro is that important! – is a really bad idea that should be illegal – we can only imagine how many folks were afraid to go into that place for needed medical attention, for two weeks!

Protests outside the hospital grew and grew, unwanted attention was given by local politicians, LA County is restive, so after two weeks, ICE was all, “Screw this, let’s take her down to Orange County!” And it was last Friday, July 18, that they grabbed Milagro out of her hospital bed – AGAINST THE ORDERS OF HER DOCTOR – and took her to a hospital in Anaheim! I’ll let this Tik-Tokker fill us in for a moment:

https://www.tiktok.com/@ladiablacolombiana/video/7528886930994662686

Welcome to Anaheim Global!

And the hospital they brought her to was Anaheim Global, at Ball and Anaheim Blvd. I have a clue as to why ICE chose that one – that particular hospital has a long history of being where cops who beat up or injure someone take them, it has rooms to keep prisoners secure, it has a reputation of special friendliness to law enforcement, no questions asked.

And sure enough, as we learn from CLUE, the hospital is part of the Global Medical Center system which has a contract with DHS, and they were also “recently fined and cited by the California Dept. of Public Health for patient safety violations so egregious that they ended in multiple deaths.”

Living up to their reputation, Global administration repeatedly rebuffed or ignored requests from Milagro and her attorney to meet with each other, and refused to meet with her legal team as well. They even called the police to threaten to arrest Milagro’s lawyer and family if they didn’t leave the lobby. The family was harassed and intimidated there by ICE, ICE contractors, and Global administration themselves.

But if “ICE” thought they’d avoid protests and publicity by dragging Milagro to OC, they don’t know OC, they don’t know Anaheim, especially Anaheim youth! For the long weekend Milagro was at Global, until Monday morning, protesters and ICE-watchers had a 24/7 presence.

Until Monday morning, when the thugs whisked her away, supposedly to Adelanto “High Desert” Detention Center. There was an Anaheim City Council meeting the next night, and a dozen speakers showed up to talk about Milagro. Here are four of the better speeches – from activist Izzy, from an E.R. Nurse, from a Reverend with CLUE, and from activist Fernanda:

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Desaparecida

Update today (Friday July 25) from CLUE:

After being kidnapped without medical discharge from Glendale Memorial by plainclothes masked ICE agents on Friday the 18th, Milagro’s location has been continuously obfuscated, leaving her family and her lawyers without clarity or contact.

Starting Sunday the 20th, ICE’s system showed her incorrectly at Adelanto Detention Center, when she was actually being held at Anaheim Global Medical Center.

The system continued to show her in Adelanto when she was then moved from Anaheim to Metro Detention Center (MDC) in Downtown Los Angeles on Monday the 21st.

Wednesday she disappeared from the system entirely, and when her attorney tried to visit her at MDC, they denied she was there. Later that day the attorney was able to confirm that she was in fact at MDC, and to arrange for her family to visit on Thursday.

THEN YESTERDAY MORNING, Thursday the 24th, she is now listed as being in JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA.

Milagro’s support system has been blatantly lied to and left out of critical updates on her whereabouts and status daily since her abduction.

Rapid movement, inadequate tracking systems, and lack of procedural access is psychological warfare against the families of loved ones who are detained. This erratic process is intended to make it difficult, if not impossible, for detainees to advocate for their rights and access legal support, and often results in them being illegally disappeared.

WE ARE WATCHING MASSIVE CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS UNFOLD IN SLOW MOTION. WE MUST NOT LOOK AWAY.

– CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice.)

Like I said, it’s all bad.

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About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.