So, I was finally granted access to perform oversight of the Whipple detention facility in Minneapolis this weekend, and what I saw was not what I would expect in the United States of America. My office has been flooded with reports of the cruel, unsafe, unlawful conditions inside of Whipple. And as a doctor, I was especially concerned about the reports of inadequate medical care. So, during my visit yesterday, I got confirmation that the facility has no specific medical policy and no real medical care on site. There was not a nurse present yesterday at all. There are no beds, no real blankets, minimal food, extremely cold temperatures. People are in locked cells and leg shackles. The agents there couldn't or wouldn't answer the most basic questions. Like how many people were currently being held? How many people had to be sent to the hospital over the last week? How many 911 calls been made in the last week?

And when I asked if any calls to 911 had been made that day, they confirmed that in fact 911 had been called at least earlier once that morning. Everything I saw showed me this operation is chaotic, disorganized, ineffective, and dangerous. I was also able to speak with two of the women who were being held there, and both of them shared harrowing experiences. The first was a woman who had been brought in the night before. She and the other women in her cell had to sleep on the hard concrete floor because there are no beds. She told me they were freezing cold, shivering the entire night. They begged agents for blankets and never got any. She told me the agents were cruel and that the women were treated like they weren't human beings. The second was a woman who'd been brought in earlier that morning. I asked to speak with her because she was in a cell alone, shackled, and she looked deeply distressed. She told me that she and her husband were both being held at Whipple and had been taken away from their 7-year-old daughter. She'd been there for hours, but had not been able to make a phone call yet, so she hadn't been able to contact her daughter, who was left with a friend and is now separated from both of her parents. She was sobbing. She asked when and if she was going to be put on a flight to Texas, but the agents couldn't even give her an answer.

These just happened to be the two people that I spoke with while I was there and both exemplified how people are not being treated humanely. Families are being ripped apart and people aren't being treated with the dignity that every human being deserves. ICE is not going after the worst of the worst. This reckless operation is tearing communities apart and traumatizing our neighbors. My visit only underscored how urgently critical it is that members of Congress are able to conduct their legal right and duty to perform oversight unannounced without advanced notice as the law requires. And it is needed to protect our constituents during this time of extreme crisis. I am more resolved than ever to do what I can to end Operation Metro Surge and get ICE out of Minnesota. quick rough transcript by @clancyny.bsky.social.