Support is growing among University of Michigan students and workers for Chloe Freeman, an Ann Arbor registered nurse who is being prosecuted by the Trump administration for helping an injured immigrant worker escape from Border Patrol agents. The university’s main campus in Ann Arbor is located a few miles from the Trinity Health hospital where Freeman worked.

Freeman, 29, faces a federal criminal complaint for “instigating or assisting escape.” The complaint was filed on August 28 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. If convicted, she faces up to a year in federal prison. Freeman has been released on a $10,000 bond, with a preliminary examination scheduled for October 20.

On May 28, 2026, Border Patrol agents conducted a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” in Ann Arbor against a Mexican worker identified only by the initials “OBP.” According to the Department of Homeland Security, the man fled during an attempted arrest, during which he reportedly tripped over a curb and struck his face on the pavement.

Agents transported the bleeding man to Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital for a CT scan. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Freeman entered the CT room, removed his IV, and escorted him out through the ambulance bay doors. He has not been located since.

For this act of human compassion and working class solidarity, the federal government is seeking to imprison Freeman. Her case is a political prosecution, aimed at intimidating every working person who seeks to defend immigrants from the police-state operations of ICE and the Border Patrol.

The outpouring of support for Freeman from workers—more than $30,000 for her defense has been raised through a GoFundMe account—is resonating at the University of Michigan campus, where students are speaking out against the prosecution and drawing the connection between the assault on immigrants and the broader attack on democratic rights.

Speaking with members of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at the University of Michigan, one student denounced the persecution of Freeman as “criminal,” while calling for an end to the Trump administration’s attack on immigrant workers. Citing his upbringing in Chicago as a member of an immigrant family, the student described the constant threat of ICE raids in local neighborhoods and the fear inflicted on his immigrant family members and neighbors.

When IYSSE members asked the student if he agreed that the attacks on immigrant workers and Freeman were part of a broader attack on the international working class, he responded, “Yes, absolutely!”

Remarking on the attacks on pro-Palestinian protesters spearheaded by both the Biden and Trump administrations and the persecution of Chinese researchers at the University of Michigan, the student said, “I was pepper-sprayed by police.” He was referring to the May 2023 police raid that destroyed a pro-Palestinian encampment at UM. “I was shocked to hear about the private investigators and camera network developed by the administration to police and suppress students on the campus,” he added.

Claire, a freshman, denounced the Trump administration’s attack on Freeman’s democratic rights and defended Freeman’s humane decision to help an immigrant worker. “Yes, it is absolutely sickening that Chloe Freeman is facing charges for prioritizing the well-being of her patient,” Claire said. “Most people are bystanders when these atrocities happen, and I think she is extremely strong for stepping up to help someone who is in danger.”

Commenting further on the circumstances surrounding the immigrant worker’s hospitalization, Claire stated that she agreed with the concerns raised by workers on Freeman’s GoFundMe page: “The claim he just ‘tripped and fell’ is very suspicious, especially coming from a paramilitary force known for using excessive force.”

She emphasized the lack of response from the Democratic Socialists of America and DSA-backed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. “It shows that they appropriate the title of socialism without displaying any solidarity with the working class and immigrants,” she said.

Another freshman, Liberty, expressed strong opposition to both the persecution of Freeman and the attack on immigrant workers. “I am firmly against the prosecution of Chloe Freeman,” she said. “It is entirely unjust that she should be punished for potentially saving a man’s life.”

Speaking on the immigrant worker Freeman assisted, Liberty stated, “There’s no telling the extent of horrible mistreatment he would have experienced if he had remained in ICE custody. In my opinion, ICE shouldn’t even exist in the first place. I can’t believe how normal our government is trying to make it seem that there is a militaristic force snatching people up in the middle of the night.”

Turning to the international character of the working class and the historical dimensions of the Trump administration’s attack on democratic rights, Liberty went on to say:

It seriously does not matter whether someone is documented or not; they are a human being and they shouldn’t be brutalized because of made-up lines on a map. Furthermore, the clearly deliberate targeting of Latino immigrants in the US is cut and dry racism and is completely unacceptable. The fact that we are having to hide our neighbors from ICE, similarly to how those in the past had to hide Jewish people from the Nazis, really speaks to where we are as a country. As someone who has lived in Michigan my whole life, I am ashamed that our state’s government continues, time and time again, to let ICE carry out its unconstitutional kidnappings and extreme violence unchecked.