FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2026

Committee to Protect Public Mental Health Joins other Health and Civil Rights Groups in Calling for Restrictions on ICE Activity in Health Care Settings

Today, the Committee to Protect Public Mental Health joined more than 430 national, state, and local organizations in urging Congress to protect sensitive locations, such as health care settings.

Immigration enforcement actions in clinics and hospitals spread fear across patients, families, staff, and entire communities. The mental health fallout is not confined to those directly targeted. It radiates across families and neighborhoods: persistent fear, hypervigilance, sleep disruption, panic symptoms, worsening depression and anxiety, substance use, and toxic stress in children. It also fractures trust in institutions that people rely on, including clinics, hospitals, emergency departments, leading to delayed care and untreated illness, and ultimately worsening public health and safety.

These harms have been magnified after the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded prior guidance on sensitive locations, leaving health care facilities and other protected areas without clear federal limits on harmful enforcement activity.

In addition to health care and mental health facilities, these protected areas have also historically included:

• Public and private schools, early childhood education programs, colleges and universities, vocational/trade training sites

• Child care centers, after-school programs, foster care facilities, group homes for children, school buses and bus stops when children are present, and playgrounds

• Places of worship and religious study, including funerals, graveside ceremonies, weddings, and other religious and civil ceremonies

• Disaster and emergency response sites, including evacuation routes and family reunification sites

• Domestic violence shelters and shelters serving people experiencing homelessness

• Courthouses, probation offices, and offices of legal counsel

• Public demonstrations

• Social Security offices, DMV, public libraries, polling places, labor union halls, and congressional district offices

As Congress negotiates any funding for DHS, it must establish meaningful oversight to ensure community safety and accountability for the harmful and abusive immigration enforcement actions taking place across the country. Legislation must include clear consequences for immigration enforcement officers who violate the law and protections for individuals who are victims of those violations. Without meaningful guardrails that end the violence, Congress must not vote to continue the status quo. Provisions within the The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act (H.R. 1061 / S. 455) would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit DHS immigration enforcement actions at “sensitive locations” so that people can access essential services such as health care, schools, and places of worship without fear.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact the Committee to Protect Public Mental Health at Committee@ProtectPublicMentalHealth.org.

The Committee to Protect Public Mental Health is an independent group of psychiatrists, which includes former presidents of the American Psychiatric Association; current and former leaders of public mental health agencies; and frontline medical professionals across the United States. Established in early 2025, the Committee was formed to protect our patients and our profession in the face of the current federal administration’s cuts to vital programs, attacks on diversity and inclusion, censorship of scientific integrity and free speech, and extensive efforts to restrict the American public’s access to evidence-based, lifesaving care.