The Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling was never meant to be a long-term ICE detention center. Yet since the launch of a recent federal immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, it has become a place where basic human dignity and due process are failing.

According to reporting by the Minnesota Star Tribune and multiple federal court filings, detainees at Whipple have described being held for days in overcrowded rooms designed for hours, forced to sleep sitting or standing, denied adequate food, medical care, and hygiene, and required to use toilets in full view of others. Attorneys have stated under oath that they were unable to access their clients, even when judges had ordered releases. Court records show people were transferred out of state without speaking to counsel, only to be flown back after judicial intervention.

The Department of Homeland Security disputes these allegations and states that detainees receive proper care and full due process. But the volume and consistency of firsthand accounts, sworn testimony, and pending litigation raise serious concerns that demand transparency and immediate corrective action—not denial.

Minnesotans across the political spectrum believe in law and order, and we also believe that government power must be exercised lawfully, humanely, and with respect for constitutional rights. Detention should never be used as a tool to coerce, punish, or break people—especially when many detainees are legal residents, refugees, asylum seekers, or even U.S. citizens.

We are calling on U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, ICE leadership, Attorney General of the United States, and Minnesota’s congressional delegation to take immediate action. That means halting the use of the Whipple Federal Building for prolonged detention, ensuring full access to legal counsel, providing independent oversight of conditions, and holding any officials accountable if violations of federal law or ICE’s own detention standards are found.

Minnesota’s history teaches us the cost of ignoring human rights abuses carried out in the name of government authority. Justice, due process, and basic humanity are not optional. They are the standard we must demand—now.