Minneapolis doctors warn of lasting medical effects, even after ICE agents leave : NPR
Doctors gather to assess the day’s needs at a Minneapolis medical clinic on January 26.
Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
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Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
For several months, Minneapolis has been experiencing a crisis historic immigration enforcement crackdownwhich even spread to medical facilities. Workers at a Minneapolis hospital say ICE agents detained patients and lingered around the facility demanding proof of citizenship from people.
It has forced many patients without legal status and their healthcare providers to implement other forms of care.
“It really concerns me that fear is stopping people from accessing health care,” a Minneapolis doctor told NPR, on the condition of remaining anonymous to protect his patients. “I’m really concerned that people are ignoring the acute symptoms, things that they really should be looking for. Breathing problems, severe abdominal pain.”
He’s worked in the city for more than two decades and says he’s never seen anything like the current crackdown on immigration and how it affects patients. In addition to his regular practice, he oversees a licensed clinic in a neighborhood that has been a target of ICE operations. He says over the last month or so, he’s heard about patients staying home and away from care. The doctor says it’s not just medical emergencies that worry him. These are “people who cannot manage their chronic illnesses. Problems like diabetes that are left untreated for months will lead to complications.”
A doctor who wished to remain anonymous to protect the safety of his patients is providing medical services to the Minneapolis community during the Jan. 26 immigration crackdown.
Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
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Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
NPR visited the neighborhood clinic he oversees on the condition that we retain the location and names of patients and volunteers to varying degrees. anonymous, because they fear federal immigration agents will target them. The clinic is located in an immigrant neighborhood, in the basement of a non-medical building. On the day of our visit, it is staffed by around fifty volunteer doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
As we enter the building, a young, petite woman named Lydia greets us. She acts as a cross between a hostess and a guard of sorts. She explains that her job, while keeping an eye out the window, is “to identify who people are and why they are coming. Just to make sure they are patients and not from ICE or the police.”
If she spots a federal immigration agent, the protocol is to seek a court warrant and alert her colleagues busy working in the basement-turned-clinic.
A volunteer guards the front door of the clinic amid the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on January 26.
Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
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A doctor stands at a clinic in Minneapolis on January 26.
Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
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Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
Half a dozen people are waiting downstairs to be called into one of the many consultation rooms. One man, a Venezuelan immigrant, told NPR he wasn’t feeling well after being injured in a workplace accident. He says it took him a long time to get here today, even though he is a legal permanent resident.
“I’m afraid,” he said, “even though I’m a legal immigrant, I’m afraid they [ICE agents] won’t believe me. I’m afraid to show them my papers and they will tell me it’s not enough.”
The clinic has gone so far as to set up a system for volunteers to pick up and deliver prescriptions to patients who don’t feel safe going out. But the supervising doctor says he fears it won’t be enough. He worries that some are still too afraid to request deliveries. “I turned to medicine to help and heal. And I can’t do that, because people are too afraid to speak out. And it’s only a matter of time before we really see this catch up to us.”
As he speaks, he looks at his diverse team of volunteers. At least three languages are spoken there. The team is a reflection of the health care industry in the United States: in the United States, approximately one in six people hospital workers are immigrants, and more than a quarter hospital doctors are born abroad.
A close-up of a medical volunteer’s stethoscope; A medical professional takes notes during a staff meeting at a Minneapolis clinic.
Zaydee Sánchez for NPR
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Pablo, a medical student volunteer here, is originally from Central America. He is a community liaison, involved in safety planning for volunteers and patients. In addition to the guard in front, the clinic has developed a buddy system: no volunteer goes to or from the parking lot alone. They also designated a secure room, Pablo explains, where patients and doctors can take shelter in the event of an immigration raid. “In the worst case, if it is necessary to add physical barriers, [we] add as much as possible. It’s a bit shocking, but you don’t really have time to stop and think about it. It’s just the reality of where we are. »
On Thursday, border czar Tom Homan announced that the immigration operation in Minneapolis would end.
“Thanks to our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals,” Homan said at a news conference. “I proposed, and President Trump agreed, that this surge operation conclude.”
But the doctors of this clinic says it fears the effects of the past two months will linger long after federal agents leave the city.
