ICE fear keeping pregnant immigrants from prenatal care in Minnesota
Jan 30, 2026·Location: Minneapolis, MN

Health care providers across the Twin Cities report that pregnant immigrants are avoiding or missing prenatal care visits due to fear of ICE enforcement during Operation Metro Surge, leading to increased no-show rates and serious complications. Providers have documented cases of preterm premature rupture of membranes, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression among patients who delay or forgo care. Some patients are requesting home births without informing providers, avoiding grocery stores due to fear, and requesting fewer prenatal visits, which can result in complications going undetected—including one documented case where a patient with high-risk pregnancy history postponed a monitoring appointment and subsequently delivered at 20 weeks, resulting in pregnancy loss. One Minneapolis-area provider reported witnessing multiple cases of this rare, often miscarriage-inducing complication within two months, after seeing none in the months prior, while another said patients increasingly skip calls and visits and some are running out of food during pregnancy, when extra daily calories are recommended.
Sources
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