DULUTH, Minn. — Over the past weeks, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have entered Minnesota hospitals to harass and detain patients. Several high profile cases of ICE agents violating patients’ rights have already made headlines, and Minnesota DFL state legislators recently joined hundreds of healthcare workers and immigrant rights leaders for a press conference calling on Minnesota hospitals to establish protections against ICE.
Earlier today, federal immigration enforcement agents entered Essentia Health with a patient being held in ICE detention at the Douglas County Jail. This comes one day after Senator Jen McEwen (DFL-Duluth), Representative Liish Kozlowski (DFL-Duluth) and Representative Pete Johnson (DFL-Duluth) spoke out against the federal government’s occupation of Minnesota, the violent conduct of ICE agents, and the use of a jail just across the Wisconsin border as a holding facility for people kidnapped by ICE.
The Duluth Legislative Delegation released the following statement:
“We are dismayed that federal agents continue their occupation and campaign of harassment, intimidation, and violence. Healthcare is a human right – no matter your immigration status. Importantly, ICE detention is also civil, not criminal. Patients in civil immigration detention retain the same rights as any other person seeking healthcare.
"Hospitals, clinics, and every place where people receive health care should be safe and healing spaces. The confirmed ICE presence in one of our Duluth hospitals today lays bare the absolute necessity of putting clear policies and plans in place to ensure the safety of doctors, nurses, patients, and their family members. When institutions put clear practices in place, workers are protected and communities are safer.
"We are working with immigrant rights leaders like Unidos, hospital employees' union leadership, and Essentia Health and Aspirus administrators to encourage their systems to proactively adopt and implement clear policies, protocols, and training. We’re encouraged by Essentia Health’s care and responsiveness today, and thankful to the community legal observers who showed up promptly.”
###