A 33-year-old Whitmore Lake woman is facing criminal charges after prosecutors say she helped a man in May who was scheduled to be deported escape from a hospital while he was in federal custody.
On May 28, 2026, Chloe Renae Freeman, a nurse at Trinity Health Ann Arbor helped the man after he was admitted to the hospital for lacerations on the bridge of his nose and a contusion on his forehead, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Aug. 28 in the Eastern District of Michigan.
She is charged with instigating or assisting escape, a misdemeanor offense, the court document says. On Sept. 29, Freeman was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond pending further court hearings. No additional court dates are listed online.
Agents identified the undocumented
immigrant on May 28 near the intersection of Washtenaw Avenue and Pittsfield Boulevard and approached him, leading him to flee from the agents, trip over a curb and hit his face on the pavement.
"United States Border Patrol Agents conducted a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Ann Arbor, Michigan for OBP. OBP was identified as a native and citizen of Mexico who had previously been removed from the United States on or about December 12, 2022, from Nogales, Arizona, and had not obtained the permission from the Attorney General of the Secretary of Homeland Security to re-apply for admission to the United States following his removal on December 12, 2022," FBI agent Michael Wagner said in the complaint.
Shortly after he was arrested, first responders determined that he needed to go to Trinity Hospital for evaluation.
The man was taken for a CT scan, but Freeman, the complaint says, retrieved him from the exam room and he left the hospital moments later.
"Law enforcement have been unable to locate OBP since his escape..." the document says.
On June 18, investigators interviewed Freeman, who said she let the man out the hospital, but did not know he was in federal custody at the time since officers were not with him in the CT room, the complaint says.
Freeman also told officials that she did not agree with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement separating people from their families and acknowledged that escorting him prior to completion of hospital care could have killed him.
Jalen Williams is a trending reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jawilliams1@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ann Arbor nurse charged with aiding 'illegal alien' escape
