Dear MPHA Members & Friends,

Recently our colleagues in the American Public Health Association (APHA) asked about current events in our beloved state. This document was prepared to provide information requested by APHA regarding federal immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) activity in Minnesota. It summarizes reported observations, community experiences, and public health concerns shared by local partners, health care providers, and public sources. The information reflects conditions as understood at the time of writing and is provided for informational and educational purposes to support awareness and dialogue among public health professionals.

January 27, 2026

To our American Public Health Association Colleagues, We are sharing the below information from Minnesota to: 1) work in partnership in communicating current events in our state and 2) coordinate with APHA to amplify a response with other state affiliates.

Over the last few weeks, thousands of armed, masked federal agents have come to Minnesota. Their aggressive tactics, meant to intimidate, are causing incredible harm, leading to palpable tension and fear across our community. As public health professionals driven to promote and protect the health of all people and their communities, we have a duty to speak up. We are asking you to encourage your members to contact their representatives to demand restraint and a halt to ICE activities that are violating constitutional and human rights, harming the health and well-being of people living in our state and across the nation.

Neighborhoods in our state, such as in St. Paul’s East Side, have been targeted by ICE since at least November. It is the scale and severity of operations and the use of observer’s video recordings that has increased our awareness and response now. Many people became aware of the ICE presence in Minnesota following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents and subsequent protests. While photographs of direct confrontation between ICE agents and protestors are often the photos that accompany news stories, these incidents are only part of the story of what is happening in communities across our state.

• While activity is highly localized, it is common to see ICE agents, masked and with military gear, in our neighborhoods or their vehicles, typically with dark-tinted windows, patrolling. They move through residential neighborhoods, business districts, and also near schools and places of worship.
• There are multiple examples of ICE agents being aggressive while making arrests, such as taking a teenager away from his job at Target, pulling people out of their cars, tackling people on the street, breaking down residential doors, or ramming their cars into vehicles to create an accident in order to question and arrest a driver.
• ICE agents have been accused of pointing firearms at people who pose no threat, spraying chemical irritants, breaking car windows, and using force against bystanders and observers who are recording interactions to help ensure human rights are not violated.
• Racial profiling is being used to question people on the streets about their immigration status and demand proof of citizenship. Their sweeping actions have led to legal, documented citizens, including Native American residents, being detained and unreachable to their family and friends. There have been reports of agents going door to door in areas with large immigrant populations, demanding entrance without warrants, or breaking down doors at incorrect addresses. In addition, ICE has targeted immigrant residents, including long-term refugees and citizens, for old, minor offenses
• ICE agents have patrolled near emergency department entrances and entered hospitals, sometimes without warrants, where they have remained present during patient care, at times handcuffing patients to their beds or denying visits from family.

The reckless and broad tactics being used by federal agents, including actions that have led to lawful residents being unlawfully detained, are contributing to fear and safety concerns for residents across the state. Because of concerns about racial profiling, people of color are asking for accommodations to work remotely and are carrying proof of citizenship anytime they leave their home. Businesses have posted signs and locked their doors to deny consent to unwarranted searches. Health care clinics report people cancelling appointments and have raised concerns about people delaying or avoiding care for both physical and mental health needs. Schools in Minnesota have created online learning options for students who do not feel safe coming to school, and are holding recess indoors when ICE agents are present in the neighborhood.

Deportations have occurred under every administration. However, no other administration in recent history has chosen to deploy an occupying presence and repeatedly use hateful rhetoric and misleading language to characterize all immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers as hardened, violent criminals on this scale. We acknowledge that, across our diverse membership, there may be wide variation in how people feel about immigration policy. However, as an association, we feel strongly that – regardless of those nuanced differences – we can stand firm in our opposition to the reckless, aggressive, and violent tactics being used by the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. Further, we can only anticipate that the outcomes of this enforcement operation, and the actions that become normalized, will shape what happens in other parts of the country.

While the primary aim of the letter is to encourage you - our public health colleagues - to speak up against the harm being perpetrated by Operation Metro Surge, the story would be incomplete if it focused only on the constitutional and human rights violations occurring in our state. Saidiya Hartman, Black American scholar, wrote, “Care is the antidote to violence.” And that is also what we see so clearly in Minnesota. We are coming together to raise funds, deliver food, provide rides, alert people to the presence of ICE, peacefully protest, and bear witness. The community organizing taking place is not only being led by local advocacy organizations, but by hyper-local groups of residents who are finding ways to help address needs as they emerge. It is through these efforts that we remain hopeful.

On behalf of the members of our affiliate association, we appreciate you taking action to inform your members, people in your state, and your Congressional representatives about what is really happening in Minnesota and to call for de-escalation and an end to the use of enforcement tactics of intimidation that are contributing to harm. We encourage our affiliates to contact their representatives in the Senate to vote against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill as written and to provide oversight requiring DHS to rein in the tactics being used by ICE and other immigration enforcement departments that are creating harm and threatening the public health of our communities.

Take Action Here

In Solidarity,

Merry Grande, Executive Director, admin@mpha.net
Tyler Pyle, MPHA President
Melanie Ferris, MPHA-President Elect