Hundreds of Minnesota physicians are speaking out about the detrimental impact the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions have had on the state’s medical clinics.
“We are bearing witness to what fear can do to the health of a community,” writes internist Bernard E. Trappey, MD, on behalf of Minnesota Physicians Voices, in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, published January 29. Nearly 600 physicians, representing a wide range of specialties and care settings, signed the letter, which demands an end to ICE’s disruption of medical care in the state.
“In Minnesota, we have found ourselves in an extraordinarily dangerous time. As the presence here of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased, our clinic schedules have filled with missed appointments. Patient volumes have plummeted in our emergency departments (EDs),” says Trappey, an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota.
Fear Reigns
“Each of these missing patients represents a lost opportunity: a chance to intervene, to make a diagnosis, to start or alter treatment, or to turn the tide of chronic illness.”
The letter stresses that it is not just undocumented immigrants who are now reluctant to seek medical care. US citizens, as well as immigrants and refugees who are here legally—especially if they are Black or brown-skinned, or speaking English as a second language–are also avoiding healthcare for fear of being arrested by ICE.
“These are patients who are terrified. When we call to check on them, they tell us they are scared to leave their homes. Scared to drive. Scared to take a bus. Scared that a walk across a parking lot to clinic — a place meant to heal — could put them and their families at risk,” the NEJM letter notes.
Minnesota Physicians Voices represents a broad range of doctors, some working in large health systems or academic health centers, while others are in private practices, or serving in VA clinics, in 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 roughly 3,000 individuals, according to official numbers. Some observers say that’s a gross under-estimate.
A Disconcerting Presence
The reported numbers are aggregate stats and not differentiated by setting or location, so there is no specific tally on the number of ICE-related altercations occurring at medical facilities. But Twin Cities healthcare workers say that the presence of ICE agents—often without proper warrants–in and around their clinics has become all-too-common.
In one widely-publicized incident, ICE agents entered Hennepin County Medical Center with an individual in custody, stayed at the person’s bedside, and handcuffed him to a bed for more than 24 hours. The agents did not have a court warrant for the arrest, and only left the facility after hospital security demanded to see the documentation.
The Hennepin County hospital also admitted a 31-year-old man named Alberto Castañeda Mondragón for a severe head injury that occurred while in ICE custody. ICE officials claim the injuries happened after Mondragón “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall,” while handcuffed, in an attempt to escape arrest. The hospital’s medical staff, as well as a forensic pathologist brought in on the case, have disputed ICE’s explanation.
Mondragón, from Veracruz, Mexico, had valid immigration documents to enter the US in 2022, and had no criminal record.
In a January 22, 2026, report on the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder news site, Hennepin Healthcare workers stated that ICE agents have become a common and intimidating presence at their workplaces.
“Our staff are afraid for their safety and the safety of patients. It’s causing incredible disruption to the work happening at Hennepin Healthcare,” said Brian Muthlaya, MD, MPH, a hospitalist working at the center.
“They tell us they are scared to leave their homes. Scared to drive. Scared to take a bus. Scared that a walk across a parking lot to clinic.”
–Bernard E. Trappey, MD
Internist Kathleen Wilcox told MSR that ICE agents routinely violate HIPAA and have no regard for privacy. “ICE detainees have been brought into the stabilization room, which is a large, four-bed space. People who are critically trying to stabilize before transfer to a medical unit or ICU can see everything going on around them, and ICE refused to leave the bedside during care.”
Wilcox added that the officers are “there without a valid warrant, without legal authorization, without permission. Our security has asked them to leave. They refused, saying they have guns.”
No-Shows Soar
Clinicians and administrators say no-shows and appointment cancellations have skyrocketed since December, when the ICE raids began. This is especially true at clinics serving the Twin Cities’ large Latino/Hispanic and Somali communities. According to a report just published in the American Journal of Managed Care, some clinics are seeing no-show rates of up to 60% of all scheduled appointments.
At Hennepin County Medical Center’s ObGyn clinic, no-shows have reached 85%. “We have patients who are terrified to come in. They’re scared to have family support during labor, one of the most vulnerable times for a woman,” staff nurse Gina Braun told MSR.
Clinicians’ “Fervent Concern”
On January 20, dozens of Minnesota physicians gathered for a live-streamed press conference to talk about what they’re seeing in the clinical trenches.
“Patients are afraid to seek care. When they do come in, ICE is pursuing them, with or without legal means or justification for that. Our medical staff feel intimidated and afraid to do the good work they should do,” stated Matt Klein, MD, a Mayo Clinic internist, who is also a state senator representing the Twin Cities’ southern metro area.
Klein thanked his medical colleagues for voicing their “fervent concern” about the chilling effects the ICE raids have had on the state’s clinics. “This is intolerable to us as practitioners, and I believe it is intolerable to the good people of Minnesota who know how medical care works in this state.”
He added that in his previous position at Hennepin County hospital, he had numerous experiences with patients who were—for one reason or another—entangled with law enforcement agencies. But he never witnessed the sort of intimidation, abuse, and violation of rights he and other physicians are now witnessing with ICE.
Some clinics are seeing no-show rates of up to 60% of all scheduled appointments.
Jana Gewurtz O’Brien, who represented the Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics at the press conference, said that the ICE operations in Minneaoplis have had particularly negative impact on the city’s children.
“We’ve seen kids face-down and in handcuffs in front of their public schools. Teens have been ripped from their homes, without coats, in sub-zero weather, and without their parents present,” Gewurtz O’Brien said.
“When ICE agents are in and around our hospitals, which again we know that they are…including my own, parents are scared to come in. Healthcare settings need to be safe healing spaces. We need ICE out of healthcare.”
In his letter to NEJM, Dr. Trappey also underscored the profoundly detrimental effects the ICE actions have had on some families with young children. “In our clinics, there are missed immunizations, missed follow-ups for seizures, diabetes, developmental delays, complex medical conditions. In the neonatal intensive care unit, we stand by the bassinets of the critically ill infants whose parents are too terrified to come to the hospital to comfort them.”
As they worry about the well-being of their patients, many of the state’s medical professionals have their own personal fears of ICE, given that immigrants and dark-skinned people make up a significant proportion of the medical workforce.
Avoidance of care isn’t just a moral issue, it’s a medical one, says Trappey. “We know what happens when the symptoms that signal a medical crisis are ignored…We have seen the cost of waiting: appendixes rupture, mild infections transform into life-threatening sepsis, patients end up on ventilators in the ICU because they could not get medications they needed.”
He stressed that Minnesota medical professionals are doing whatever they can to help their patients cope with a very turbulent and stressful situation. “We make covert home visits, organize emergency hotlines. We deliver medications, food, and diapers to those who cannot safely leave their homes. When patients do come to see us, we ensure that they leave with enough medication to (we hope) survive this crisis.”
As they worry about the well-being of their patients, many of the state’s medical professionals have their own personal fears of ICE, given that immigrants and dark-skinned people make up a significant proportion of the medical workforce, and that ICE’s actions are often careless.
“Some of us step out of our homes to provide care for the people of Minnesota knowing that today might be the day when the amount of melanin in our skin outweighs the degrees we have earned and the people we have healed,” the NEJM letter states.
As of the date of this writing, the Trump administration’s current “border czar,” Tom Homan, has ordered the drawdown of 700 ICE agents, approximately one-quarter of the total personnel now stationed in the Twin Cities. It’s a small step toward quelling the unrest that has wracked the region for nearly 2 months.
But clearly, “Operation Metro Surge” is far from over, and the detrimental impact of the crisis will likely ripple through the city’s healthcare sector for months or even years to come.
END
