Immigration activity is taking a toll on children’s health, doctors say

Pediatric doctors across the country, including at Children's Minnesota, describe children going without surgery, hearing aid batteries, and cochlear implants because immigrant families fear that hospital visits will expose them to ICE. One elementary schooler's life-threatening neck infection has gone untreated; ICE arrests hit a record 51,000 in July, and the agency has also used Medicaid data to locate immigrants.

Healthcare workers report surges in missed pediatric appointments and rising depression and anxiety symptoms since January 2025, affecting citizen and noncitizen children alike. A published study found missed appointments among Hispanic and Latino children rose more than 50% during Minneapolis's Operation Metro Surge, with Spanish-speaking families seeing an 80% increase.

Brookings researchers estimate more than 146,000 U.S. citizen children have had a parent detained since Trump's inauguration, and Pew estimates 4.6 million U.S.-born children live with an unauthorized immigrant parent. New rules weighing public-benefit use in immigration applications are also driving citizen families to drop services like Medicaid-covered prescriptions, doctors say.

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