Hospitals are meant to be places of healing—not sites of fear and intimidation. But across the Twin Cities, immigration enforcement agents are showing up at hospitals, even without judicial warrants, standing inside emergency rooms and by patients' bedsides, sometimes while they’re being bathed, stabilized, or denied visits from loved ones.

This is happening in our hospitals—like HCMC in Minneapolis and Regions Hospital in St. Paul—and it's putting lives at risk.

Health care workers, many speaking anonymously for fear of losing their jobs, report that ICE agents are interfering with patient care, compromising privacy, and creating unsafe, traumatizing conditions for both patients and staff. In one case, a patient in critical care was shackled to a bed for over 24 hours with no family allowed to visit. Nurses say that agents often ignore hospital rules, operate without judicial warrants, and carry weapons through sensitive care units.

Immigration status should never be a barrier to medical care. Minnesota hospitals are required by law to treat every patient, regardless of their legal status—and our state must stand up for that principle.

We call on Governor Tim Walz, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the state legislature to pass clear, enforceable protections that ban ICE and other federal immigration agents from entering hospital treatment areas without a valid judicial warrant. These protections must also ensure that patients in custody receive medical care with the same dignity and privacy as any other person.

No one should have to choose between life-saving care and the threat of detention or deportation. No nurse should be forced to work in fear. And no family should be denied the right to be with their loved ones during a medical emergency.

This is about public health, human dignity, and basic decency. Sign now to tell Minnesota leaders: keep ICE out of our hospitals.