Dozens of health care professionals and community members packed a Hennepin County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, expressing concern about the presence of federal immigration officers at Hennepin County Medical Center.
The health care workers said at the meeting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been present in the hospital, which has created immense fear for patients and hospital staff alike. They said that the agents’ presence has made it difficult for health care workers to do their jobs, and that patients who are undocumented are not coming in to get care over fears they may encounter ICE.
“Our staff are afraid for their safety, afraid for the safety of their patients, and it is causing incredible disruption to the work that’s happening at Hennepin Healthcare,” said Dr. Brian Muthyala, a physician at Hennepin Healthcare.
Some at the meeting called for stricter policies surrounding federal law enforcement’s access to hospitals and for Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies to step in and remove the agents for trespassing if they don’t show a warrant.
“Our security has asked them to leave,” said Dr. Kathleen Wilcox, who works at the hospital. “They said, ‘No, they have guns.’ We need to do everything that we can to secure patient safety.”
Last week, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, sparking protests and calls for action nationwide. Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed to the Twin Cities.
Dr. Dillon Kurila, a surgical resident at HCMC, said he has been caring for a patient who is in ICE custody.
“I am here on behalf of myself as well as my fellow residents who are being prevented from providing proper care for this patient,” he said at the Hennepin County board meeting.
Jamey Sharp, a community organizer and health care worker who works with the nonprofit Unidos Minnesota, and two health care workers at HCMC told Sahan Journal that ICE agents have been at the bedside of a patient for the past several days, and at one point shackled the patient’s legs together.
The two health care workers who work at HCMC spoke to Sahan Journal on the condition of anonymity, due to concerns over losing their jobs.
The agents have been working in shifts, with typically two agents in the room at a time, but at times there are up to four agents in the patient’s room, one health care worker said. The health care worker said that the agents said they had a judicial warrant for the patient, but that they did not show one to them.
At one point, the agents shackled the patient’s legs together, the health care worker said, and that agents told hospital staff that they believed the patient was trying to escape, but the medical providers did not think that was the case.
“It’s inappropriate,” the health care worker said. “The patient didn’t do anything to deserve that.”
Kathleen Wilcox, a physician, speaks at a County Commissioner meeting at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on Jan 13, 2026. Credit: Christopher Juhn
The health care worker said that multiple providers confronted the agents about restraining the patient, which escalated into a verbal argument in the hallway. Eventually, the shackles were removed.
“It felt like the ICE people just thought that the person was just less than a person, or, like, less than an animal or something,” the health care worker said.
The two health care workers who spoke with Sahan Journal declined to describe the patient’s medical condition, due to privacy concerns.
After hospital staff and security were unable to get the agents to leave, Sharp said they reached out to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office was asked to remove the agents but refused.
In an email to Sahan Journal, Megan Larson, communications director for the office, denied that the Sheriff’s Office was asked to remove anyone, and said that the county is responsible for security in the hospital.
A social worker watches a County Commissioner meeting at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on Jan 13, 2026. Credit: Christopher Juhn
Christine Hill, media relations manager for Hennepin Healthcare, said the hospital is not sharing information about the presence or status of federal agents at HCMC or at the system’s neighborhood clinics “to protect confidentiality and maintain a safe environment for our patients, employees and visitors.”
Hennepin Healthcare released a statement last week after reports of ICE being at the bedside of a different patient.
“We protect confidential health information, request appropriate legal documentation before granting access to patient areas, post signage marking public and private areas, and direct any enforcement interactions through our trained security and leadership teams to minimize disruption to clinical care,” the statement from last week reads in part.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
In an interview Monday, Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley, whose district includes HCMC, said she could not comment on this specific patient, but said that ICE has been in the hospital and that it is a significant concern. She said the county is looking at updating the hospital’s policies and exploring legal options.
“It has been extraordinarily frustrating to know that private areas of our hospital have been infiltrated … by ICE agents,” Conley said. “It is our position that we don’t believe that they should lawfully be in that building.”
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said at the meeting that she is calling for a separation ordinance that would prohibit county resources and services from being used in federal immigration enforcement.
Gross told Sahan Journal that if ICE refuses to leave HCMC and doesn’t have the authorization to be there, sheriff’s deputies should be able to remove them.
“Security should act first, but if they are not able to get an appropriate response, then the answer is that the deputies have to act,” Gross said.
Michelle Gross of Communities United Against Police Brutality speaks at a County Commissioner meeting at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on Jan 13, 2026. Credit: Christopher Juhn