Educating and activating health professionals to work toward health equity.

Minnesota Doctors for Health Equity Denounces ICE Human Rights Violations

Today in Minnesota, we are witnessing a systematic dismantling of human dignity, marking a dark chapter of human rights violations in the United States -- from the extrajudicial killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti to the brutalization of constitutional observers to the violent arrests and detainment of citizens and non-citizens alike.  As physicians, we are also seeing the more insidious human rights violations –  by targeting clinics, hospitals, grocery stores, and places of work, "Operation Metro Surge" is leading a systemic campaign to strip our community of its health, its livelihood, and its dignity under the guise of immigration enforcement.  

Human rights apply to everyone. As physicians, our commitment to do no harm, protect confidentiality, and advance justice requires us to speak. Defending human rights is not political. It is a professional and ethical obligation.The current administration, and ICE in particular, is showing a blatant disregard for the rights of both citizens and non-citizens alike. Enforcement in or near clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies causes patients to avoid care, interrupts treatment, and worsens health outcomes. We oppose the use of healthcare spaces for immigration enforcement and reaffirm the duty to protect patient privacy and dignity.

These times are chaotic and complex, and we don’t, individually, have all the answers.  Collectively, we think we do. 

Act Locally:  

• Help where you can, when you can. Check in with neighbors, friends, colleagues, staff, medical assistants, nurses, and pharmacists. Whether it is time and space, food, or medicine, the people we work with are affected or know someone who is.

• Buy and read the book “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder 

• There are many amazing organizations with the wisdom and infrastructure to do great work – Tap into existing mutual aid networks to donate, deliver or drive:

• • LinkTree List of Groups

  • https://mnnoice.com/  

• Contact any community organizations you have a connection with and see what the community needs are. The obvious ones are food, diapers, and rent assistance. But people need hope, connection, something to do, and mindful distractions as they sit at home.  We shouldn’t presume to know what people need.

• Support affected businesses

Create Prescription Pathways:

• People need medications. We need to figure out how to get them to them in an ethical way, which means honoring patient privacy:

• • Genoa Pharmacy: Delivers for free, has interpreters and a discount program.

  • Mail order pharmacies are a partial solution, but may require logins (costplugdrugs.com, for example).

  • Help us create a Prescription Pathway
    

Stories Matter

• Document harms by ICE

  When seeing patients that have any interaction with ICE carefully document harms. Consider physical trauma, emotional trauma, denial of healthcare, use of chemical irritants or non-lethal weapons. Document if patients are having difficulty getting medications or accessing healthcare, and avoid including information on immigration status in your notes

• People need to know about what is happening “behind the scenes” -- write letters to the editor (a resource for how and where to submit them), contact reporters, and volunteer to be interviewed to share what you are seeing in your work and communities.

Push for Hospital/Clinic Policies

• Hospital policies have typically been written with criminal detention in mind where the patient has fewer rights and law enforcement can be more involved. ICE detention is civil detention, which is an entirely different category of detention, and patients have more rights (including the right to have visitors). Make sure the policies AND PRACTICE of the hospital or clinic you work in reflects this reality. Attend a UNIDOS training to learn more.
  

Establish a Habeas Petition Process

• Habeas petitions are a way for lawyers to challenge the wrongful detention of clients, and need to be filed rapidly once someone is detained. This is particularly the case in healthcare settings as once someone is in detention they are typically moved out of Minnesota in a matter of hours, and then it is too late. Use the links below to learn more. 

  Consider anticipatory guidance with your patients to inform them of the importance of lawyer contacts:  "If you or anyone in your family gets picked up there is a process that the legal team can do to keep you or your family in Minnesota, but it has to be done within hours of being detained."

  Resources:  

  Minnesota Emergency Legal Guide

  Minnesota Legal Hub

As physicians, our duty to do no harm, protect confidentiality, and advance justice requires us to speak and act. Fear, delayed care, and disrupted access to food and medications are health harms, and healthcare spaces must remain safe places for care, not enforcement. MDHEQ commits to trauma informed, culturally responsive care, to documenting harm in ways that protect patients, and to working with community and legal partners to mitigate ongoing violations. We invite clinicians and allies to act locally, support mutual aid, protect patient dignity, and join this work. Together, we can meet this moment with integrity and work toward a future where human rights are upheld for everyone.