The California-based National Union of Healthcare Workers has declared itself to be a "sanctuary union" that will protect illegal immigrants like "sanctuary cities" do.

The union, which represents 12,700 workers, said it will work with a San Francisco immigration rights law firm "to advise and represent members and their relatives at risk of deportation."

"Everyone has the right not to answer questions from immigration agents and the right to deny agents entry to your home unless they have a signed warrant," said Porfirio Quintano, a NUHW executive board member in a column posted Friday for the pro-labor magazine In These Times. "Likewise, we are reviewing our records to make sure we aren't preserving any data that could reveal a member's immigration status, and we are refusing to voluntarily share any information about our members with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers."

Quintano said the union also would lobby its members' workplaces — including hospitals, clinics and nursing homes — to adopt similar immigration policies. "That includes employers refusing to share information with immigration agents and refusing to let them inside healthcare facilities."

NUHW has a history of radicalism. It was previously part of the Service Employees International Union but broke away in 2009. It said that top SEIU officials were cutting "backroom deals" with healthcare companies that undercut California workers.