The Cincinnati, Ohio, hospital that once employed an interfaith chaplain now detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has warned employees that speaking out on his behalf could violate its policies, according to a message shared with staff this week and obtained by Salon.
In an internal letter to staff, sent Thursday, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital CEO and President Steve Davis addressed the detention of Imam Ayman Soliman earlier this month, informing staff that the hospital does not “publicly comment on personnel or legal matters.” He also reminded employees of the hospital’s expectation that staff “live our values and follow our policies, every day and in every interaction” despite the “divisiveness outside of our walls.”
“As a Nonprofit Charitable Organization, Cincinnati Children’s has strict rules it must follow when engaging in activities that could be characterized as political,” the letter reads. “Our organization is politically agnostic, not favoring one party over the other; we advocate for policies that improve pediatric health.”
The letter comes after the hospital fired two chaplains over recent social media posts, including ones that noted an employee’s participation in a recent protest, and another’s interview with a local media outlet about her recent visit with Soliman at a county jail. Soliman worked as an interfaith chaplain at the hospital until June, when his asylum status and work authorization were revoked. ICE detained Soliman during a routine check-in earlier this month and he remains in custody as the Cleveland Immigration Court weighs whether to release him on bond.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment about the letter or its policies. Media relations staff also did not answer a phone call placed Friday afternoon.
When previously reached for comment, a spokesperson for the hospital said that the medical center does not comment on current or former personnel and did not respond to a question about the hospital’s media policy.
That the hospital is wary of its employees defending one of their former colleagues, and casting their defenses of his character during an immigration proceeding as inherently political, comes amid a broader reticence by many organizations to weigh in on topics that may draw the ire of President Donald Trump. Since taking office in January, Trump has cracked down on universities and institutions with threats to rescind funding over noncompliance with executive orders on student protests and evidence-based tellings of American history.
Revs. Elizabeth Diop and Adam Allen, now both former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplains, have been outspoken in their support for their former colleague. Diop spoke with local news outlet WCPO earlier this month about her visit with Soliman at the Butler County Jail four days after he was detained. She told Salon she was called into a meeting with her director, manager and a Human Resources representative just days after the interview went live and was informed that she was facing disciplinary action up to and including termination over the interview. The hospital informed her that she had been terminated late afternoon on Monday.
“Policy or not, I used the gift that I have and the resources that I have to fight for something that is a deeply held faith belief for somebody that I care about and value deeply and just knowing that people can see that is really powerful,” Diop told Salon in an interview, adding that she had packed up her belongings ahead of the meeting that day in anticipation of her firing.
Allen said he had posted a handful of videos and stories on Instagram and Facebook advocating for Soliman’s release and condemning ICE, some of which include photos he took of “anti-fascists” holding pizza boxes with pieces of paper taped on the lids that say “Free Aymon Soliman,” “F*** I.C.E.,” and “Love Thy Neighbor.” In those videos, Allen is pictured holding a pizza box with a taped-on paper that says “Free Aymon Soliman.” One of those posts also includes a disclaimer stating that his views and those expressed in the video do not reflect the views of his employer.
Late last week, he told Salon, the hospital informed him he was also facing disciplinary action up to and including termination over his social media posts and was removed from the weekend schedule. But when he asked which of his offending posts he should take down, an HR representative did not flag any specific one, he said. The hospital went on to terminate Allen on Monday, just 15 minutes before Diop.
“I only regret not being louder about it,” Allen told Salon. “I only regret that I haven’t been more vocal about other people being vocal,” he said, adding that he wished he had interrupted a previous departmental meeting to encourage his team to speak up for Soliman.
“I wanted to tell them … ‘Ayman is our friend, we need to do everything we can as a team to help him,’” Allen said. “I wish I had just interrupted that meeting to say that — that’s what I mean by being louder.”
The hospital’s media relations policy states “that all inquiries and requests from the media should be handled by the media relations team in Marketing & Communications (M&C)” and requires any staff, faculty or other employee to “refer the media person to an M&C media relations staff member” for review of the request, according to a copy of the policy Diop sent to Salon. The policy also prohibits staff from making direct contact with the media without approval from M&C staff.
The hospital’s social media policy requires employees to use social media in accordance with its “policies, Code of Conduct expectations and Core Values,” according to a copy of the policy obtained by Salon. It advises employees to “use good judgment,” be “respectful and professional,” and make clear that they are only speaking for themselves, “not as an employee of Cincinnati Children’s.” And it prohibits posts that are “obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive or hateful to another person or entity.”
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Cincinnati Children’s Hospital came under scrutiny earlier this year after it had declined to place a 12-year-old child, whose mother is related by marriage to Vice President JD Vance, on the heart transplant list because of her vaccination status. The child’s parents told the Cincinnati Enquirer they were unwilling to allow their daughter to receive the two needed vaccinations because doing so conflicted with their religious and medical beliefs, claiming the hospital would not honor a religious exemption.
At the time, a spokesperson for the hospital did not address the Enquirer’s questions about whether the hospital withheld the child from the transplant list or the transplant policy. The spokesperson did say that the hospital’s “clinical decisions are guided by science, research and best practices.”
In the Thursday internal letter, Davis said that Cincinnati Children’s had previously offered to help Soliman pursue other avenues to remain lawfully employed at the hospital, but did not think it appropriate to comment further at this time.
“Please know the absence of a public response should not be mistaken for a lack of caring or action,” the letter reads.
But Allen argues that the absence of a public response is all the public sees. In fact, he said that he told an HR rep as much when she informed him that his participation in a rally could lead to his termination if the media implied he represented the hospital.
“I said, ‘Ayman has already been in national news. I don’t think that it will do well for public opinion if the hospital then fires a chaplain for advocating for Ayman,’” Allen recalled. “Nobody was breathing in the room when I said that. HR just kind of choked on her words for a moment and said, ‘All I can say is that this is the hospital’s policy.’”
