NPR | Thursday, February 5, 2026 
Some Public Health Service officers deployed in detention centers suffer ‘moral distress’

In 2025, as immigrant arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement soared, so did the demand for health care providers to staff hastily constructed detention centers. One group tapped to meet the need is the U.S. Public Health Service, or USPHS: In the past year, nearly 400 officers have done monthlong tours helping to provide basic medical care to detainees at ICE facilities nationwide, according to a USPHS employee who reviewed a roster of staff deployments. The deployed officers include nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals. A growing number say these ICE assignments are not what they signed up for. Life-threatening delays in getting medicine and care to detainees, chaotic screenings, and overcrowded yet understaffed conditions have pushed some medical professionals to quit. “We have been tasked with protecting and promoting health, and instead, we are being asked to facilitate inhumane operations,” said Rebekah Stewart, a nurse practitioner who left the service in October. Many Americans have never heard of the USPHS. It’s made up of around 5,000 uniformed, non-combatant officers, mostly health professionals, who work day jobs at federal agencies like the Indian Health Service, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its members often deploy to…Read more