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Hundreds of Minnesota doctors are speaking out about the harmful impact recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions have had on the state’s medical clinics.
“We are witness to what fear can do to the health of a community,” wrote internist Bernard E. Torabi, on behalf of Minnesota Doctors’ Voices, in Message to New England Journal of Medicine, Posted on January 29. Nearly 600 doctors, representing a wide range of specialties and care settings, signed the letter demanding an end to ICE’s disruption of medical care in the state.
“In Minnesota, we find ourselves in a very dangerous time,” says Torabi, an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. “With the increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence here, our clinic schedules have been filled with missed appointments. The numbers of patients in our emergency departments have decreased.”
Fear prevails
“Each of these missed patients represents a missed opportunity: a chance to intervene, make a diagnosis, initiate or change treatment, or transform the course of chronic illness.”
The letter emphasizes that undocumented immigrants are not the only ones who are now reluctant to seek medical care. American citizens, as well as immigrants and refugees who are here legally — especially if they are black or brown, or speak English as a second language — also avoid health care for fear of being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“These are terrified patients. When we call them to check on them, they tell us they are afraid to leave their homes. Scared to drive. Scared to take the bus. Scared that walking across the parking lot to the clinic — a place designated for recovery — could put them and their families at risk,” the NEJM letter said.
Minnesota Physicians Voices represents a wide range of physicians, some of whom work in large health systems or academic health centers, while others are in private practice, serve in VA clinics, at federally qualified health centers, or with the Indian Health Service.
Since “Operation Metro Surge” began in the Twin Cities in early December, ICE has arrested nearly 3,000 people, according to official figures. Some observers say this is an underestimate.
A disturbing presence
The numbers reported are aggregate statistics and are not differentiated by location or location, so there is no definitive count of the number of ICE-related altercations that occur in medical facilities. But health care workers in the Twin Cities say the presence of ICE agents — often without proper warrants — in and around their clinics has become all too common.
in One incident received widespread media coverageICE agents entered Hennepin County Medical Center with a person in custody, remained at the person’s bedside, and handcuffed him to the bed for more than 24 hours. The agents did not have a warrant for their arrest, and they only left the facility after hospital security demanded to see the documents.
Hennepin County Hospital as well A 31-year-old man named Alberto Castañeda Mondragon admitted to having suffered a serious head injury Which happened while he was in ICE custody. ICE officials claim the injuries occurred after Mondragon He “deliberately ran headfirst into a brick wall,” while handcuffed, in an attempt to evade arrest. The hospital’s medical staff, as well as a forensic pathologist brought into the case, disputed ICE’s interpretation.
Mondragon, of Veracruz, Mexico, had valid immigration documents to enter the United States in 2022, and had no criminal record.
in Report dated January 22, 2026 on the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder news sitehealth care workers at Hennepin reported that ICE agents have become a common and intimidating presence in their workplaces.
“Our staff is afraid for their safety and the safety of patients,” said Brian Muthalaya, MD, MPH, a hospitalist who works at the center.
“They tell us they’re afraid to leave their homes. Scared to drive. Scared to take the bus. Scared to walk across the parking lot to the clinic.”
-Bernard E. Torabi, MD
Internist Kathleen Wilcox told MSR that ICE agents routinely violate HIPAA and have no regard for privacy. “ICE detainees are brought into a stabilization room, which is a large space with room for four beds. People who are dangerously trying to stabilize themselves before being transferred to a medical unit or ICU can see everything going on around them, and ICE has refused to leave the bed during care.”
Wilcox added that the officers were “there without a valid warrant, without a legal permit, without permission. Security asked them to leave. They refused, saying they had weapons.”
No-shows are rising
Doctors and administrators say no-shows and appointment cancellations have skyrocketed since December, when the ICE raids began. This is especially true for clinics serving the large Latino/Hispanic and Somali communities in the Twin Cities. according to Report just published in American Journal of Managed CareSome clinics are experiencing no-show rates as high as 60% of all scheduled appointments.
At Hennepin County Medical Center’s ObGyn clinic, the no-show rate has reached 85%. “We have patients who are afraid to come. They are afraid to have family support during labor, which is one of the most vulnerable times for a woman,” nurse Jenna Brown told MSR.
“Extreme anxiety” among doctors
On January 20, dozens of Minnesota doctors gathered A press conference was broadcast live To talk about what they see in the clinical trenches.
“Patients are afraid to seek care. And when they come, ICE goes after them, whether by legal means or justification. Our medical staff is intimidated and afraid to do the good work they should be doing,” said Matt Klein, MD, an internist at Mayo Clinic, who is also a state senator who represents the Twin Cities’ south metro area.
Klein thanked his medical colleagues for expressing “deep concern” about the horrific effects of ICE raids on the state’s clinics. “This is unbearable for us as practitioners, and I think it is unbearable for the good people of Minnesota who know how Medicare works in this state.”
He added that in his previous position at Hennepin County Hospital, he had numerous experiences with patients who – for one reason or another – were involved with law enforcement agencies. But he had never experienced the kind of intimidation, abuse and rights violations that he and other doctors with Immigration and Customs Enforcement are now witnessing.
Some clinics are experiencing no-show rates of up to 60% of all scheduled appointments.
Jana Geurtz O’Brien, who represented the Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics at the news conference, said ICE operations in Minneapolis have had a particularly negative impact on the city’s children.
“We saw children face down and handcuffed in front of their public schools. Teenagers were taken from their homes, without coats, in subzero weather, and without their parents present,” Geurtz O’Brien said.
“When ICE agents are in and around our hospitals, which we know again… including mine, parents are afraid to come in. Healthcare places should be safe places to heal. We need to get ICE out of healthcare.”
In his letter to SleepDr. Torabi also emphasized the extremely harmful effects that ICE actions have had on some families with young children. “In our clinics, there are missed vaccinations, missed follow-up for seizures, diabetes, developmental delays, and complex medical conditions. In the neonatal intensive care unit, we stand at the bedside of critically ill infants whose parents are too afraid to come to the hospital to comfort them.”
Concerned about the health of their patients, many medical professionals in the state have their own fears of ICE, since immigrants and people of color make up a large percentage of the medical workforce..
Avoiding care is not just an ethical issue, it is a medical issue, Torabi says. “We know what happens when symptoms indicating a medical crisis are ignored… We’ve seen the cost of waiting: appendix ruptures, mild infections turn into life-threatening sepsis, and patients end up on ventilators in the ICU because they can’t get the medications they need.”
He stressed that Minnesota medical professionals are doing everything they can to help their patients deal with a very turbulent and stressful situation. “We make confidential home visits, organize emergency hotlines. We deliver medicine, food and diapers to those who cannot safely leave their homes. When sick He does Come see us, and we make sure they leave with enough medicine to (hopefully) survive this crisis.
Because they are concerned about the health of their patients, many medical professionals in the state have their own fears of ICE, given that immigrants and people of color make up a large percentage of the medical workforce, and that ICE’s actions are often negligent.
“Some of us are stepping out of our homes to provide care to the people of Minnesota, knowing that today may be the day when the amount of melanin in our skin outweighs the grades we earned and the people we treated,” the NEJM letter said.
As of this writing, the Trump administration’s current “border czar,” Tom Homan, has stated that Ending ICE operations in Minnesota. This follows an earlier recall of 700 ICE agents, roughly a quarter of the total employees stationed in the Twin Cities.
Although the end of Operation Metro Surge will go a long way toward quelling the unrest that has ravaged the region for more than two months, the damaging impact of the crisis will likely ripple across the city’s healthcare sector for months or even years to come.
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