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You can’t turn on the news without hearing something about ICE. From recent protests in Minnesota to 6 deaths under ICE custody and 2 fatal shootings in 2026, according to the American Immigration Council, the headlines are inescapable and often unimaginable. So what really is the truth about ICE? And does it have impacts in areas we wouldn’t expect, like healthcare?

According to BBC News, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was formed as a part of the Homeland Security Act in 2002 in response to the terrorist  attacks on 9/11. This created the Department of Homeland Security with ICE as one of its subsidiary agencies.  ICE views its mission as encompassing both public safety and national security. ICE has existed for decades, but has never been so prominent and controversial the way it is now. The American Immigration Council stated that when President Trump took office, there were roughly 40,000 people held across the nation in detention centers. It only took one year of his presidency for that to increase by over 75% with a record of 73,000 people being held as of mid January. 

One of the many controversies has been the way ICE has used lethal force. On January 7 in Minneapolis, 37 year old U.S. citizen Renee Good was killed behind the wheel of her car. The Trump administration stated that the ICE officer was acting in self defense however local law enforcement reported she posed no threats to the officer. In a video posted on CNN, as Renee Good is driving away from the officer, three gunshots are heard and the officer curses at her as she dies. On January 24 ICE fatally shot 37 year old Alex Pretti, a Veteran Affairs ICU nurse in Minneapolis. According to ABC news, multiple videos of the confrontation show Pretti being sprayed with pepper spray pinning him to the ground before 10 shots were heard and he was dead on the scene. Local officials dispute claims by ICE officers that Pretti held a handgun and violently resisted as they tried to disarm him. Minnesota's gun laws permit open carrying of a handgun as long as the owner has a valid permit. Pretti was a legal gun owner without a criminal record. He devoted his life to serving American veterans, and his coworkers and those who knew him were devastated at news of his death. As of January 14th, the Trump administration had sent over 2000 officers to Minneapolis as a part of the ICE operation.  

Vice President JD Vance responded to the crisis in Minneapolis according to the New York Times by stating that the officers are “protected with absolute immunity.” But is ICE really allowed to use this kind of violence? Under the U.S. constitution, law enforcement can only use deadly force if the person poses serious danger to them or others or has committed a violent crime. A DHS policy memo in 2023 says that officers may use deadly force only when they have “reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.” ICE can legally stop, detain, and arrest people they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally. ICE can only detain U.S. citizens if they directly interfere with an arrest, assault an officer, or are suspected to be here illegally. ICE cannot legally enter a home without a signed judicial warrant from a judge directly. Despite these regulations and according to Propublica, there were more than 170 reported incidents during the first 9 months of Trump’s presidency holding U.S. citizens against their will. 

These issues may seem far away and irrelevant, but their effects are truly personal. In an interview with two students from Baylor Medical School in Houston currently completing their hospital rotations, they revealed that ICE is affecting the healthcare workers and patients receiving healthcare more than other news sources have let on. Both Chace Moncrief and Anna Youngkin, 2nd year med students, have had close personal interactions with immigrants in danger of deportation. During one of his rotations Moncrief worked with a patient in his mid-twenties suffering from catatonia, a neurological disorder that affects movement control. He had a clean criminal record and had lived in the United States for 20 years. This patient was in ICE custody and “although he could not move, as a symptom of catatonia, he was dually handcuffed to his bed on one arm and one opposed leg. Additionally, two armed guards were by his side the entire time.” During the time of Moncrief’s visit, they had to take him to the Operating Room for a scheduled ECT treatment which required a full neurological exam testing limb coordination to assess the treatment’s efficacy before and after its completion. When Moncrief and his coworkers asked if they could remove his restraints, Moncrief said “both of the agents looked at each other and proceeded to interrogate us, as if our request was out of bounds.” 

After finally completing the exam, it was time for the procedure. The ICE agents insisted on entering the operating room and remaining by his side for the full procedure. However, when they were asked to put on proper attire for a hygienic operating room, they “decided it was not worth the hassle,” said Moncrief. He “found this to be strange as they were adamant about accompanying the patient at all times, until the most minor inconvenience to their person resulted in a sudden change in acceptable protocol” he said. 

This patient is from Venezuela but has not been there since he was a toddler so “to call it his ‘home’ would be inappropriate” said Moncrief. Moncrief had been unaware that ICE does not deport to Venezuela, but instead to whichever country will accept a deportee. This means immigrants may not be sent to a place they were born, but to somewhere completely random. This worries Moncrief because this means his “patient who is medically catatonic and in need of progressively stabilizing ECT treatment, from weekly to monthly over the span of a year, will not be sent to a place he called home in a distant life, but to a completely different country he had never been before, a country that may or may not have the technology capable to complete ECT treatment.” 

ICE effects on healthcare carry over into public health as well. In my interview with Anna Youngkin, she emphasized the value of privacy that healthcare workers offer to their patients. “We have seen reports of ICE choosing to focus efforts around areas where institutions place mobile vaccination centers. This has led to a decrease in vaccine utilization from those centers. I worry then that individuals who would have otherwise received a childhood vaccine and other routines are not currently accessing that care out of fear,” said Youngkin. She believes that the best thing healthcare workers can do is to provide quality healthcare despite immigration status. To Youngkin this means “if a family is nervous about sharing information related to their immigration [status], remind them that all information they share with us is confidential. Seeking help from a healthcare professional should make patients feel safe and we should remind them they are safe with us,” she said. The best advice she would give to a nonhealthcare professional during this time is to meet people where they are. She remarked “especially in a city like Houston, that we need to be especially careful not to presume immigration status.” Many of Youngkin’s patients at risk of deportation, who may speak another language or are from another country, may be citizens or legal residents.  

So when the news feels unescapable and tragic, remember there are healthcare heroes taking care of people who need it amidst political controversy and devastation. Chace Moncrief finds that outside of healthcare confines, that can equal a smile when serving someone a coffee, a protest, a social media post, or being a listening ear like him. He says that, "Health care workers are powerful. We meet people where they need to be met. In those confines, we can truly be empowering. Talk with our patients, see them for who they are, and love them for what they have provided for our community. One conversation of love is powerful. By being truly present with them, we are supporting them in ways that can’t be quantified.”

Primaries are the first public elections that determine which candidates will represent each party in the November general elections. Early voting closed February 27th, and official voting will be on March 3rd, with runoffs going into April. Texas is an open party state, so every two years, a voter can choose any party's primary to vote in, though they are restricted to that party's runoff as well, meaning if a voter votes for the Republican primary, they can not vote in the Libertarian runoff. "Primaries are kind of sleeper events if you are not an informed voter, and so they pass by, and lots of people don't know about them. So they are low kind of voter turn out events. But if you want to have an impact as a voter, then you really want to be voting in a primary," said Ms. Kimberly Horne, a voter registrar and high school English teacher.

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In Texas, Republican primaries have historically dictated the elected representative because the Republican Party dominates the general elections. A Democrat hasn't won a statewide office in Texas since 1994. "What happens is that because they are low voter turnout events, they usually tend to be more partisan," said Ms. Horne. "So if I'm a hard-core Democrat or a hard-core Republican, I'm definitely gonna vote in the Republican or Democratic primary." This year, in the first seven days of early voting, 1,259,356 people voted, a number that surpasses both 2020 and 2024 despite presidential election years typically seeing more voters.

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There are hundreds of offices up for re-election, with 11 statewide offices and all 38 US representatives. For Statewide offices: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, one US Senator, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of General Land Office, Commissioner of Agriculture, Railroad Commissioner, four Supreme Court members, three Court of Criminal Appeals members, and three 15th Court of Appeals will be on the ballot .

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Greg Abbot is running for re-election as Governor and is heavily favored with over 100 million in campaign funding and is favored by President Trump. According to the Texas Tribune, Dan Patrick tops the Republican primary for Lieutenant Gov. and has a 5% advantage in polling over Vikki Goodwin, who dominates the Democratic side. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy leads Mayes Middleton 33% to 23%, with Joan Huffman trailing with 16% for the Republican Attorney General Primary after incumbent Ken Paxton is running for US Senate, inserting himself into one of the most competitive primaries this year.​

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Senator John Cornyn is running for re-election, with Ken Paxton and Wesley Hunt as his biggest competition. Cornyn would be entering his 5th term as a US Senator. First elected in 2002, he has chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2009-2013. Currently, he is at slight odds with the Republican Party for his support of a bipartisan gun safety bill in 2022, though he is campaigning on his support and collaboration with President Donald Trump. "In President Trump’s first term, I was Republican whip, delivering the votes for his biggest wins. Now I’m running for reelection... so President Trump and I can pick up where we left off," he said, according to BallotPedia. Attorney General Ken Paxton has 38% of voters according to a Jan 31st poll by the Texas Tribune, while John Cornyn stands at 31% and Wesley Hunt at around 17%. Wesley Hunt is the US rep for district 38 and served 8 years in the US Army. Traditionally, Trump has been the deciding factor in Republican primaries, though he's staying impartial. "They’ve all supported me, they’re all good, and you’re supposed to pick one, but we’ll see what happens, but I support all three," said President Trump in a Feb 17th Fox News interview. John O. Adefope, Anna Bender, Virgil Bierschwale, Sara Canady, and Gulrez "Gus" Khan are also running.

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It's highly likely for this race to go into a runoff due to three strong candidates preventing any one candidate from taking a full majority. "The thing that people worry about with primaries is that they're going to damage a candidate. If they win, great, but they're still damaged from the primary, " said Ms. Horne. Run-offs only add time to expend resources and possibly have your image damaged before the general election. The Democratic primary is less likely to go into a runoff with only two popular candidates, allowing the chosen candidate a head start on general election prep for November.

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The Democratic primary has two front runners, with Jasmine Crockett leading James Talarico 47% to 37% in the Jan 31st poll. Crockett is a US district 30 Representative in Dallas, previously a civil rights attorney. According to her campaign website, her primary issues are as follows: affordability, housing, and food security, claiming to counter "Trump's failed economic policies." James Talarico is a state rep for District 50 in Austin, previously a public school teacher with a master's in policy from Harvard. Ahmad R. Hassan is also running.

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Early voting has passed, but the official voting day is March 3rd, and general elections will be held in November. Ms. Horne, after years of being a voter registrar and a high school teacher, urges students to vote, saying, "One thing that has been statistically true is that once a voter, always a voter. If you start voting early, you tend to be someone who keeps voting."