Amid coronavirus spread, health advocates worry Trump’s immigration policies put public at risk

The coronavirus has created a health crisis around the world.   The U.S. governmenmt is scrambling to take necessary steps to protect the American public.  However, as Nicole Acevedo and Carmen Sesin report for NBC News, health advocates worry that President Trump’s restrictive immigration policies could deter people from seeking health services as communities work to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Many people who lack legal immigration status tend to largely avoid hospitals out of fear that their information might be released to Immigration & Customs Enforcement.

Nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants are estimated to live in the U.S., a majority of them in  California (with the largest population at 2.2 million), Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

Dr. Don García, the medical director at Clínica Romero, which runs two clinics providing health services for underserved communities in the Los Angeles area, told NBC News he’s mostly concerned with the unforeseen impacts of the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule. That measure could deny immigrants some visa renewals or green card applications if they’ve used certain federally funded programs such as Medicaid or food assistance over a certain period of time — or if the government considers they’re likely to become dependent on a program in the future.

KJ