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The Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis has pushed many undocumented people underground. Some children are still being kept out of school and people are staying inside their homes, away from hospitals and doctors. As NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports, that has prompted concern among medical professionals, and some of them have responded by volunteering to care for people discreetly.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: In the last month or so, there have been multiple run-ins between health care workers and immigration officers. Workers at one hospital in Minneapolis say ICE officers have restrained patients and lingered around the facilities demanding proof of citizenship from people. And that's forced many patients and health care providers to set up alternate forms of care.
UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: It really worries me that fear is causing people to not access health care.
GARSD: This Minneapolis doctor agreed to talk with NPR on condition of anonymity to protect his patients. He's worked in the city for more than two decades. In addition to his regular practice, he supervises this licensed clinic in a neighborhood that has been the target of ICE operations. He says in the last month or so, he's been deeply worried that many of his patients are staying home and away from care.
UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: I get really concerned that either people ignore acute symptoms, things that they really should be coming in for - breathing problems, bad abdominal pain - but also people missing the management of their chronic conditions. So things like diabetes going untreated for months is going to lead to complications.
GARSD: There are some 50 volunteer doctors, nurses and pharmacists here today. Everyone involved in this clinic spoke to NPR on the condition that we keep the location, as well as the names of its patients and volunteer medical professionals, anonymous because they fear federal immigration agents will target them.
Here's what we can say. It's a clinic located in an immigrant neighborhood in the basement of a non-medical building. Upon approaching the building, a young, petite woman named Lydia welcomes us. She acts as a cross between a greeter and a sort of guard.
LYDIA: Just to identify who people are and why they're coming in, just to make sure that they're a patient, and they're not here from ICE or from police.
GARSD: If she sees an immigration agent, the protocol here is to ask for a judicial warrant and alert her colleagues who are busy working in the basement-turned-clinic. There is a waiting room where about half a dozen people sit waiting to be called into one of the many consultation rooms. One man, a Venezuelan immigrant, says he hasn't been feeling well. He has an injury from a work accident. It took a lot for him to come out here today, despite the fact that he is a legal, permanent resident.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: He says, "I'm still scared. Even though I'm legally here, I'm scared ICE agents wouldn't believe me. I'm scared I'll show them my papers, which I carry, and they'll say that's not enough."
The clinic has gone so far as to set up a system for volunteers to pick up and deliver prescriptions for those who don't feel safe coming out. But the supervising doctor says he worries that it's not enough, that people might not be raising their hand and asking for deliveries.
UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: I went into medicine to be able to help and heal, and I can't do that because people are too scared to speak up that they need help. And it's only a matter of time before we really see this catching up to us.
GARSD: As we talk, he looks over a diverse team of volunteers, a reflection of the health care industry in America, which is, in part, powered by immigrants. In the U.S., about 1 in 6 hospital workers are immigrants. Pablo is a medical student who volunteers here. He's originally from Central America.
PABLO: So we've really had to think through security for both our volunteers and our patients.
GARSD: In addition to the guard out front, there's a buddy system. No one walks to or from the parking lot alone. And the clinic has designated one secure room, Pablo says, for patients and doctors to shelter if there is an immigration raid.
PABLO: In the worst-case scenario, if we have to add physical barriers, add as many as we can. It's a little bit jarring, but you don't really have that much time to stop and think about it. It's just the reality of where we are.
GARSD: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said on Tuesday he expects a drawdown of federal agents within days but added that he's in, quote, "trust but verify mode." Still, doctors at this clinic say they worry the effects of the last two months will linger long after federal agents leave town. Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, Minneapolis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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