A new survey out from the group Physicians for Human Rights looks at how immigration enforcement under the Trump administration has impacted access to health care for children.
The group surveyed almost 700 health care workers in 30 states — including Arizona — about how their work with immigrant communities has changed since January. More than 80% reported significant or moderate decreases in patient visits, according to the survey.
“Just the knowledge and the visual of seeing how much immigration enforcement is going on across the country has led people to really second guess whether they should access health care, whether they should utilize SNAP benefits,” said Katie Peeler, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the medical advisor with Physicians for Human Rights.
Peeler analyzed the data for the survey and said some clinicians also reported seeing immigrant patients seek out more telehealth and sometimes skip specialized medical treatments, like chemotherapy, for children.
“People were really fearful,” she said. “If they go to the visit, and ICE happens to be there, then there’s no chemotherapy at all, because they might go back to their home country where they don’t have access to those resources.”
Peeler said another physician’s patient was a mother and an undocumented immigrant, who was considering whether to forgo requesting a restraining order against her abusive ex-partner, because he’d threatened to call immigration authorities on her.
“Her attorney advised her to not place the restraining order. He said, ‘your fears are well-founded, if you place a restraining order, you may get that, but we can’t stop your ex-partner from calling ICE and you very well may be deported,’” she said. “That is a really, just unimaginable position to be in.”
Peeler said the Trump administration should stop conducting immigration enforcement at health care facilities and end data-sharing agreements with Medicaid to mitigate the harm caused by curtailing access to health services for children and families.
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