News Round Up In-Brief

US News

• Researchers at the University of Michigan found that children born in the US to immigrant parents have more difficulty finding a “medical home” or stable, family-oriented primary care, than children born to US parents.
• Tyndall Air Force Base revoked its offer to open doors to undocumented immigrant and refugee children for fear of disrupting focus on military missions.
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services displayed gross negligence by accidentally placing a group of immigrant children in the midst of a human trafficking ring in Marion, Ohio.
• An effort to reduce unauthorized immigration in the state of Arizona has caused more harm than good. While the population of undocumented workers dropped by 40 percent, the state’s economy has suffered greatly.
• Presidential candidate Marco Rubio has adopted a “Trump-like” stance on immigration, which directly counters his previous support for a path to citizenship for undocumented individuals, enraging voters.
• The US Department of Health and Human Services says that immigration reform is a crucial step in achieving universal health coverage, since currently undocumented individuals residing in the US are barred from enrolling in these health care insurance programs.
• The Department of Family and Protective Services in Texas is attempting to keep two immigrant family detention centers open, under the guise of licensing them as child care facilities.

 

International News

• In the United Kingdom, Migrant women are being forced to choose carefully what maternity services to receive because of the fees the National Health Service is imposing upon them.
• Officials in Israel say it is the moral obligation of doctors to advise their high-risk, immigrant patients that they must undergo screening tests, especially for Hepatitis C, and make this information available in their languages.
• The Immigration Department on Manus Island is working on finding alternatives for anti-malarial drugs in response to previous negligence in anti-malarial drug prescription. Past medical staff had knowingly prescribed a drug for malaria that was known to cause mental health problems.
• Citizens of Australia and New Zealand applying to stay in the UK for longer than six months must pay the UK Immigration Health Surcharge in order to make use of the National Health Service (NHS), while previously they could access the NHS as if they were permanent residents.
• Pediatricians visiting immigration detention centers in Australia say the mental health of the children in these centers is the worst they have ever seen.
• According to research done by St. Michael’s Hospital in Canada, refugee women have higher rates of premature births than non-refugee immigrants, indicating that their experiences in their home countries are not conducive to good health.
• Turkey’s outrage with Europe’s lack of participation with the refugee influx that has the country stretched thin may cause them to open the gates and allow refugees into Europe.    

 

Prepared by Jaziel L. Ramos-Ortiz