ICE agents are harming children and health care workers. This is not OK | Opinion
As Kansas City pediatricians, our work is grounded in a single premise: that all children deserve to grow and learn in a safe, stable environment. We practice in hospitals, clinics and emergency departments, places where children and families come to heal. When immigration enforcement intrudes into health care settings and surrounding communities, that premise collapses.
Children experience the world through cues of safety and danger. Seeing armed officers, uniforms and weapons in or near places central to their daily lives, such as schools and hospitals, is frightening and destabilizing. At a time when many children are already absorbing distressing images from the news and their communities, the visible presence of immigration enforcement compounds anxiety and undermines trust in systems meant to protect them.
The consequences for children’s health are real and immediate. Families delay or avoid seeking medical care out of fear — fear of detention, separation or surveillance. We see missed well-child visits and immunizations, worsening control of chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, and children presenting without caregivers. Parents hesitate to bring in children with respiratory distress, injuries or mental health crises. Fear changes behavior, and when families do not feel safe accessing care, children suffer the consequences.
Recent events in Minnesota underscore the human cost of this climate. Five-year-old Liam Ramos was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with his father and wrongfully transferred from Minneapolis to a family detention center in another state, despite an active asylum case. A preschool-age child removed from home, school and community is now navigating detention during a critical period of development. Family separation and detention are well-documented adverse childhood experiences with lasting effects on mental and physical health. No child’s health is served by fear, displacement or confinement.
When enforcement actions spill into communities and clinical spaces, health care workers are not immune and face moral distress, psychological trauma and even physical harm. There are increasing reports of ICE agents entering or attempting to enter hospitals, placing clinicians and staff in untenable positions. The killing of Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs intensive care unit nurse and U.S. citizen, during an immigration enforcement operation sent shockwaves through the health care community. Pretti’s death has intensified fear among health care workers already under extraordinary strain. Many are now asking themselves: Will I be safe doing my job?
A health care system cannot function when its workforce does not feel safe. Pediatrics, in particular, depends on trust — trust between families and clinicians and trust among staff and institutions. Enforcement actions that introduce fear into health care environments erode that trust and compromise care for everyone, regardless of immigration status.
This is not about politics. It is about the health and well-being of children and their families. Pediatricians are trained to recognize and prevent harm. We know that fear, trauma and instability are toxic to child development. We also know that health care workers must be protected to provide safe, effective care to children and families.
ICE must withdraw enforcement actions from sensitive locations, especially hospitals and schools. Families should never have to choose between their child’s health or education and their safety. Health care workers should never have to fear for their own well-being while caring for others.
As an ICU nurse, Alex Pretti devoted his life to caring for others. Even in his final moments, his instinct was to protect others. His last reported words were, “Are you OK?”
Today, we must answer honestly. Children are not OK. Families are not OK. Health care workers are not OK. And a health care system that allows fear and force to enter spaces of healing is not OK either. Protecting health care settings and the people within them is not optional — it is a moral imperative.
Erin McCann is a general pediatrician and global health physician who lives in Olathe. Anik Patel is a pediatric emergency medicine and global health physician who lives in Kansas City.
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 9:35 AM.