2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

ICE agents entered Minneapolis hospital without a warrant, shackled patient to bed for 28 hours

On December 31, 2025, ICE agents entered the emergency department at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota without a judicial warrant to arrest a patient who had just arrived for care, and remained at his bedside for approximately 28 hours, according to the advocacy organization Unidos MN and Minnesota state legislators. During that time agents treated the patient as though he were in criminal custody — denying him family visitation and at points shackling him to the bed — and accessed hospital staff-only areas including break rooms and parking lots, before leaving after a Hennepin County commissioner and state legislators confirmed no warrant existed and asked them to go. DHS did not respond to requests for comment.

Part of: Operation Metro Surge (Twin Cities ICE Surge)

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Abuses documented

Actors

On December 31, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the emergency department at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota without a judicial warrant, seeking to arrest a patient who had just arrived for medical care, according to the immigrant-rights organization Unidos MN and Minnesota state legislators. Six ICE officers were in the hospital, working in shifts of two at the patient's bedside around the clock, for approximately 28 hours. During that time agents treated the patient as though he were already in criminal custody: they denied him family visitation and at times shackled him to his hospital bed, and were given access to staff-only areas including break rooms and parking lots, according to Unidos MN communications director Luis Argueta.

Civil immigration detention carries no independent authority to enter private hospital areas or restrain a patient absent a judicial warrant, and Hennepin Healthcare's own security team was initially unable to get the agents to leave on its own. A Hennepin County commissioner and DFL state Reps. Aisha Gomez and Mohamud Noor were alerted and came to the hospital; commissioners and hospital leadership together confirmed no judicial warrant existed, and the agents left after the officials asked for documentation. Noor said the patient was at high medical risk and could have died had he been forcibly removed. Hennepin Healthcare later confirmed federal agents had been on its campus and were asked to leave, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

The incident occurred in the opening days of Operation Metro Surge, the roughly 3,000-agent ICE and Border Patrol deployment to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that ramped up in early January 2026, and Unidos MN said it followed the group's own hospital-access policy recommendations that HCMC leadership had not adopted before the holidays. It prompted a public rally outside HCMC's emergency department and a Hennepin County Board hearing at which health care workers said fear of encountering ICE was already deterring patients from seeking care.

Updates

2026-01-15 — MN lawmakers demanded ICE leave hospitals, urged clear protocols [5]

Twelve Minnesota state lawmakers, including several health care professionals, issued a joint statement condemning ICE's conduct at HCMC, calling on hospitals to adopt "clear and proactive policies, protocols, and training" to protect patients and staff, and demanding federal immigration agents "leave our state immediately."

Why we recorded this

Civil immigration enforcement does not authorize agents to treat a hospital patient as though he were in criminal custody, or to enter private medical spaces without a judicial warrant. ICE agents held a Minneapolis hospital patient at his bedside for roughly 28 hours without a warrant, at times shackling him to the bed and barring his family from visiting, until a Hennepin County commissioner and state legislators confirmed no warrant existed and had the agents removed. This archive records the incident because unchecked entry into a place of healing, absent judicial authorization, is exactly the warrantless exercise of state power the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement exists to prevent.

Sources

  1. ICE entered Minneapolis hospital without warrant, handcuffed patient to bed, community organizers say — CBS News Minnesota primary accessed September 4, 2026
  2. ICE agents shackled patient to bed at HCMC, advocacy group says — FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul secondary accessed September 4, 2026
  3. Advocates, health care workers demand change at HCMC after ICE guarded patient's bedside — Sahan Journal investigative accessed September 4, 2026
  4. When ICE Enters a Hospital: Why Clear Protocols Matter for Patient Safety — Unidos MN primary accessed September 4, 2026
  5. STATEMENT: Lawmakers Respond to ICE Activity in Minnesota Hospitals — Minnesota House DFL Caucus primary accessed September 5, 2026

See also