A 13-year-old boy was brought into the Pediatric Emergency Room in septic shock, a life-threatening condition due to an overwhelming infection. The week before, he had stomach pain and fever, but his parents were too scared to take him to the doctor because of new anti-immigrant legislation.
They waited until he was so sick they had no choice but to call an ambulance. What could have been a simple appendicitis became a life-threatening illness, requiring a much larger surgery and days in the Intensive Care Unit. Although this story happened in the past, we are again seeing anti-immigrant legislation and rhetoric that create fear, stop people from seeking medical care, and put lives at risk.
All children deserve health care. We have the ability to provide medical care to sick kids in the country while also creating fair border and immigration policies. These values must rise above politics and political ideologies. As pediatricians and pediatric emergency room doctors along the border and around the United States, we see first-hand the consequences of failing to protect kids. Families should be able to go to schools, hospitals, and other vital community places without fear or barriers.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration has allowed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to go into “sensitive locations” including health care areas, schools and places of worship. This has made many families afraid to seek care, hurting children in the process. Community health centers are also confused by these changes and other anti-immigrant Executive Orders. These clinics are critical to our communities, because they help everyone. They keep people healthy, saving lives and taxpayer dollars by keeping people out of the Emergency Room. It’s important that these clinics know that they can continue to treat everyone and continue to serve their communities without interference, fear or barriers.
In response, lawmakers in the US House and Senate have introduced the “Protecting Sensitive Locations Act of 2025.” This bill, supported by many organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other leading health organizations, aims to restrict these sensitive and important places from immigration enforcement and is clearly in the best interest of kids. While this one policy is not a complete solution, protecting sensitive locations is a logical and good place to start.
We don’t yet know the full effect of anti-immigrant policies children’s health, but we know when people are afraid to seek medical care, bad things happen. During the early days of COVID, for example, when people were afraid to go to the hospital, there were many delayed diagnoses, delayed treatments and worse health outcomes. Under the first Trump Administration, in the context of increased anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric, many immigrant families also stopped utilizing basic health care services and safety net programs.
Better access to healthcare has lasting benefits for kids. It can prevent hospital stays and Emergency Room visits, lower child mortality, improve school attendance and performance. Over time, it leads to healthier adults and stronger communities. There is no question that anti-immigrant rhetoric, policies, and fear of immigration enforcement make it harder for kids to get the medical care they need and negatively affect their health.
We must protect hospitals, clinics, and health centers everywhere from immigration enforcement so kids and their families can visit their doctors without fear of being detained and deported. This is especially true in Texas and the Rio Grande Valley where we are blessed with generations and generations of immigrants, who continue to enrich our lives and define our culture. This also helps the countless physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, medical assistants, who are immigrants themselves, to come to work safely and care for all of us.
Providing healthcare for children is a moral obligation, and one that we can fulfill. All policies, including immigration laws, should support kids’ health and well-being. This must be an accepted, basic premise of all laws and policies. Keeping kids and families away from their doctors, schools and places of worship does not advance the needs of the United States and is not the American way. Protecting these essential places should not be political.
We urge lawmakers to support the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, and more importantly, prioritize the health and well-being of children and families when shaping immigration policy. We have the ability, and obligation, to do better.
Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Dr. Eric Russell, M.D., and Dr. Marsha Griffin, M.D. Russell is a pediatrician and pediatric emergency medicine physician. He works extensively with immigrant communities, including Emergency Departments along the US Southern Border. Working along the border, he has worked with children detained in US Customs and Border Protection facilities. He has also worked extensively with partners to improve the health and healthcare for immigrant families throughout the United States. Griffin is a retired professor of pediatrics from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, and a founding member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health. She is also president of Community for Children, Inc. a non-profit created to benefit immigrant children and families. The above column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the authors.
