Knowledge Is Key for Safety-Net Providers

BY: NANCY BERLINGER, PhD, LAURA GUIDRY-GRIMES, PhD, and ADIRA HULKOWER, JD

Immigration policy and health care — what's the connection? Safety-net hospitals, community health centers and health programs serving low-income populations almost inevitably will encounter undocumented immigrants:

• As patients or prospective patients
• As community members for whom health care access is an important avenue for integration into American society
• As persons whose health-related legal rights may be overlooked, imperiled or difficult to use

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Allies in Fight Against Human Trafficking

BY: RABBI Dr. NADIA SIRITSKY, MSSW, BCC and MARISSA CASTELLANOS, MSW
"My father was a wandering Aramean" (Deuteronomy 26:5). Year after year, Jews around the world repeat these words as part of their Passover observance to commemorate the exodus from ancient Egyptian slavery. The words reflect the stories of generations of Jews who have been chased out of their homes, again and again, from Crusade to pogrom to Holocaust. The Bible's clear command — love the stranger, for you yourselves were strangers — forms the basis of the Jewish people's advocacy for refugees and immigrants of all kinds.
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A Catholic Ethic for Immigration

BY: KRISTIN E. HEYER, PhD
After decades of congressional inaction on the nation's outdated immigration legislation, and amid polarizing political rhetoric, recent changes to federal admission and deportation policies have unleashed fear in immigrant communities. These moves threaten to harm already vulnerable asylum seekers and divide families of mixed immigration status. They also endanger the nation's deepest values and its standing in the world.
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Sanctuary in Action

BY: PETER PEDEMONTI
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia is an interfaith, immigrant justice group that organizes with 24 area congregations to work toward ending injustices against immigrants and to build a more welcoming city and country.
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Enforcement Guidelines Are Important to Know

BY: CLAY O'DELL, PhD
Questions about interactions between health providers and the federal agents whose task is enforcement of current immigration laws continue to arise for Catholic health providers, particularly as some of the enforcement actions have become more aggressive and have garnered publicity.
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Universities Seek DACA Recipient Strategies

BY: MARK KUCZEWSKI, PhD and SUNNY NAKAE, MSW, PhD

The Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine has 28 students enrolled in its 2018-2020 classes who are undocumented immigrants currently in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. These Stritch students constitute almost half of the matriculants with deferred action at medical schools across the nation and they are among more than 100 such students who have matriculated to the various schools of Loyola University Chicago. Medical students who are DACA recipients bring much needed diversity to the physician workforce and represent an important asset to many underserved communities. But the current political climate has cast uncertainty over the future of these talented students.
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No Walls, No Barriers

BY: JAMES A. SIFUENTES AND ARTURO CARRILLO, PhD
Miguel is a local pizza delivery man in his late 30s or early 40s who has brought orders to the Community Wellness Program office at Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago. One day, he walked into the office without a pizza — coming to us because he had severely infected thermal and chemical burns on his hand.
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Deportation: A Moral Morass

BY: DARREN M. HENSON, PhD
Catholics, from Pope Francis to bishops, theologians and the faithful, have responded to the increasing hostility towards immigrants and refugees worldwide. In the United States, significant shifts in policy affecting immigrants and those seeking safe and permanent refuge sparked Catholic reaction from multiple sources.
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Climate of Fear Takes Toll on Community

BY: BISHOP JOE S. VASQUEZ

Executive orders introduced in January 2017 related to immigrants and refugees changed certain government policies. Although not all the proposed changes have been fully implemented, their introduction has contributed to a climate of fear in immigrant and refugee communities. Simply put: The immigrant and the refugee are afraid of what will happen to them and their families. This fear is taking a toll on their daily lives, particularly the 11 million undocumented persons who live in our country.
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Promoting the Health of Immigrants and Refugees

BY: ROD HOCHMAN, MD
As Catholic health care providers, we have a special responsibility to serve the least among us and be a voice for the poor and vulnerable. This includes our brothers and sisters who move to the United States as refugees and immigrants. Inspired by the Declaration of Independence promise of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," they come in search of better futures for themselves and their children.
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A Reflection from Fort Smith, Arkansas

BY: MARTIN SCHREIBER, EdD
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house." — Matthew 5:14-15.
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