Minnesota Star Tribune investigation revealed ICE held Whipple detainees in overcrowded cells without bedding, medical care, or menstrual products

On February 1, 2026, a Minnesota Star Tribune investigation -- based on interviews with 30 detainees, attorneys, and advocates and a review of nearly 200 federal court records -- documented conditions inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the office-building hub of Operation Metro Surge, the federal immigration crackdown that had produced more than 3,000 arrests since December 2025. Detainees described holding cells so overcrowded that people took turns lying down, with cells built for two holding a dozen or more; one refugee said a cell built for roughly 20 held about 100, with some detainees sleeping standing up in handcuffs. A woman detained in mid-January said she was shackled and locked in a bathroom with three men for nearly 24 hours, then moved to a second locked bathroom alone, with no bedding, a broken sink, and one sandwich a day; when she vomited and asked for medical care, agents did not respond, and when she had her period, guards told her to use toilet paper instead of providing menstrual products.

Other detainees described comparable denials of care: a Somali grandmother was denied access to diabetes medication, a detainee with a broken finger and another with epilepsy had requests for medication go unanswered, and a woman recovering from cranial surgery was unable to reach her attorney despite significant medical needs, according to a class-action complaint. U.S. citizens detained while observing or protesting ICE activity were held in separate cells from immigrants but reported similar deprivation -- hours without food, water withheld until detainees said they had to "beg" for it. Released detainees said they were driven or walked out into the cold, sometimes at night, and left to find their own way home; some were dropped at a nearby light-rail station with no phone.

Whipple's holding areas were designed to detain people for under 12 hours, and a January 27, 2026 class-action lawsuit alleges the building lacks the infrastructure -- including private phones for privileged attorney calls -- to hold people longer, calling it "the epicenter of the systematic deprivation of fundamental constitutional and legal rights." A Human Rights Watch report independently documented the same pattern, describing detainees at Whipple "subjected to inhuman and degrading conditions, including overcrowded and dirty cells, continuous shackling ... and being forced to sleep on cold floors without beds or bedding, and lack of access to adequate health care."

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson disputed the allegations, telling the Star Tribune that detainees receive proper meals, water, and medical treatment and that "ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens," but did not answer specific questions about the crowded conditions.