Imagine having to flee from your home in order to survive. Imagine what it would take for you to leave everything and everyone you love behind. What would terrify you so deeply that flight became your best option?
The clients we see at CVT’s clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota, have answers to these questions; they have scars that show what they’ve survived and memories that can haunt them. They somehow managed to escape their tormentors and make their way to Minnesota where they are in the process of rebuilding their lives in a place free from state-sponsored terror.
Our clients come to us with mental health impacts from the trauma they experienced at the hands of some of the most despotic regimes on earth.”
-Sara Nelson, program manager
Our clients come to us with mental health impacts from the trauma they experienced at the hands of some of the most despotic regimes on earth. Their symptoms often include difficulty sleeping, nightmares, somatic symptoms like headaches and body pain, sadness, difficult memories that interfere with their daily lives, and even suicidal ideation.
The first step in healing from this level of trauma is establishing a sense of safety and security. This can be difficult even in the best circumstances, as people who have been traumatized have a difficult time feeling safe even if they are in a safe situation.
Unfortunately, that feeling of safety for our clients in Minnesota ended several months ago as the government’s highly militarized ICE immigration enforcement began. As Operation Metro Surge advanced through neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, restaurants and parking lots, safety disappeared. Healing has taken a backseat.
Clients have witnessed their neighbors, coworkers and friends being abducted by ICE. They peek from behind curtains at unmarked vehicles that circle their blocks. They watch videos of masked, heavily armed men violently ripping people out of smashed cars. They saw the same videos we all watched on social media of protesters being shot point-blank by masked agents, with no apparent consequences for the killers.
Our clients have had to hide in closets in their homes while ICE bangs on the door, demanding entry without a warrant. One client described to her social worker how she hid in the dark, terrorized by the sound of a drone repeatedly striking her tightly-curtained window. Clients are being advised by their attorneys to stay inside, to leave only if absolutely necessary, and to always carry their documentation with them.
Our clients have had to hide in closets in their homes while ICE bangs on the door, demanding entry without a warrant.”
By the end of January, six of CVT’s Minnesota-based clients had been taken by ICE, first driven to the Whipple federal building and then immediately flown to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas. From there, two clients were next sent to New Mexico for reasons that have still not been explained.
All six of these clients are asylum seekers with work permits. All are lawfully present in the United States. One was taken from a mosque and others from their workplaces when they showed up to start their day. Two were taken when they arrived at their regularly-scheduled ICE check-in appointments.
Back in his home country, one of these clients had been falsely accused of being a spy for rebel forces during a period of civil war. He survived torture in jail and only escaped because his family paid a bribe for his release. He made it all the way to the United States and had complied with all of ICE’s surveillance demands for years. In late January, as ICE agents took him into custody when he showed up for his check-in, he was able to text his CVT therapist before they took away his phone. His message simply read, “I need help.”
His message simply read, ‘I need help.’”
You can imagine the kind of memories these experiences and these conditions bring up – clients have been telling us since late 2025 that the situation in Minnesota feels like the circumstances that caused them to flee their homes overseas. Hiding in their Minnesota apartments all day, every day, they are isolated and afraid. Their mental health symptoms are worse than ever, and with no end to this in sight, many of our clients begin contemplating suicide.
As I write this on February 18, we have good news that three of the clients who were taken by ICE during Operation Metro Surge have been released from custody and are back in Minnesota. Coming back, they again have access to their attorneys, their friends and loved ones, as well as the psychotherapists and social workers at CVT. However, they have new trauma and have lost the stability in their daily lives that is such an important foundation for the healing process.
And even though U.S. government officials have publicly claimed to be reducing ICE detentions, things have not changed from our clients’ perspective: People continue to be taken. People cannot leave their homes for fear of abduction. Kind volunteers are bringing groceries, but now there are reports that ICE agents are impersonating service organizations, utility workers, delivery drivers. It is nearly impossible to trust people.
It is hard for me to imagine what it would feel like to be in this position. You flee for your life, leaving behind everything you know, working day and night to rebuild your life in a place that is supposed to be safe, only to watch it happen all over again, to be suddenly unsafe from the government in what was supposed to be your new home.
I also consider what it means to have made it to the U.S. and to work through the detailed and years-long asylum process, to know you are here lawfully, that you have done everything the way you were asked, you did things the “right way.” Our clients are facing a brutal reality: Life in the United States is now like the life they fled.
Our clients are facing a brutal reality: Life in the United States is now like the life they fled.”
There is much that we are doing as the Center for Victims of Torture and as a much wider community. We have adapted all aspects of our clinical work to accommodate remote healing, but we have also expanded our efforts dramatically. There may be ways you can get involved.
Here are some of the things we are doing:
- Facilitating volunteer grocery delivery to clients who are unable to safely leave their homes.
- Providing important Know Your Rights information to clients and community members.
- Accompanying clients to ICE check-ins and immigration court hearings to provide emotional support and a witness to their experience.
- Communicating with client’s emergency contacts and attorneys when they are detained and putting money in commissary accounts so detained clients can contact loved ones.
- Collecting donations for our Client Assistance Fund for groceries and immediate needs.
About The Author
Sara Nelson
