Since a policy allowing arrests at sensitive locations was widened about a year ago, hospital operations have shifted to encrypted communications and more detainee encounters with healthcare facilities.

The crackdown’s reach extends to Oregon, where nurses report ICE pressure to discharge detainees prematurely, prompting hospital policy reviews to balance safety and care.

Health workers describe patients avoiding clinics and a rise in home births, while staff fear going to work amid enforcement actions.

Protests and clashes have arisen, including a disruption at a St. Paul church tied to the local ICE field office, prompting a federal civil rights investigation.

A Minnesota coalition of doctors warns that the Trump-era immigration crackdown is causing fear and avoidance of medical care, with patients delaying prenatal care, missing medications, and even a laboring woman delivering at home.

Clinics, hospitals, and daily care settings report patients missing appointments and treatments due to fear of ICE enforcement, disrupting ongoing care for conditions from cancer to diabetes.

National context shows enforcement in liberal cities and a contested death linked to an ICE officer, shaping local perceptions of the crackdown.

The policy change ending protections for places like hospitals and schools has heightened tension and chaos as medical staff describe patients suffering amid enforcement.

The human impact is central: patients and healthcare workers, many from immigrant communities, face fear, altered care, and a national debate over enforcement at sensitive locations.

Minnesota’s operation peaked in January as part of Operation Metro Surge, the largest-ever immigration enforcement push in the Minneapolis area, contributing to thousands of arrests nationwide.

Health professionals warn that places of healing are under siege and urge protections to ensure access to care for all, especially undocumented patients.

Hospitals like Hennepin County Medical Center report encrypted communications and encounters with plainclothes ICE officers, with accounts of pressure to rapidly discharge patients and concerns about safety.