Position Statement: Health Consequences of ICE Operations are Widespread and Severe
Content warning: This article mentions shootings, death, violence, trauma, and family separation.
This week, ICE operations have resulted in the shooting deaths of two more immigrants. On Monday, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian man, was shot and killed in his vehicle in Maine as he left his neighborhood. Last week in Houston, ICE agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who was driving to work at a construction site with his brother and two other workers; ICE agents say he was not the target of the operation. At least 22 people have been shot by ICE agents since January 2025. Six people have been killed in these shootings.
These deaths are tragic and unnecessary. These shootings are the result of punitive, chaotic, untargeted and discriminatory enforcement tactics, rather than policy grounded in human rights and due process.
Immigration enforcement should never result in deaths; our government agencies have a duty to ensure the well-being of those under their custody and control. Migrant Clinicians Network stands for humane and orderly immigration policies that prioritize well-being and ensure the basic human rights of immigrants. The current policies are causing preventable harm.
That harm is of course most acute for the families and communities of the individuals who have been killed. However, the impact extends far beyond. These tactics, and the deaths that have been a result of these tactics, are undermining health, safety, and trust in essential institutions across the United States.
Effect on Health Access
Immigrant and migrant communities are traumatized by punitive and cruel immigration enforcement. Regardless of their documentation status, immigrants, particularly those of color, face unjust practices including racial profiling, unlawful arrests, and violence. Some have been arrested and held for extended periods in detention without due process, enduring family separation, severe trauma, and poor detention conditions where detainees experience medical neglect of life-threatening conditions. The result of these realities is that many immigrants choose to avoid routine activities that are essential to their health and well-being, including forgoing medical care.
Compounding and collective trauma
Many immigrants and migrants carry their own experiences of displacement, violence, loss, or uncertainty. Many have fled danger and persecution in their home countries; many others experienced violence and trauma during their migration. Here in the United States, many workers experience workplace exploitation and dangerous working conditions. Public tragedies can reactivate those experiences and also create collective trauma that extends to entire communities.
Impact on Children
Clinicians have reported children presenting at hospital emergency rooms unaccompanied, delayed diagnoses of life-threatening illnesses, and children as young as six presenting with anxiety due to fears of family separation, in a 2025 survey from Physicians for Human Rights and Migrant Clinicians Network. (See ICE Tactics, Deportation Fears Limit Access to Health Care for Children of Immigrants: Survey.) At the time, 84% of surveyed health care workers reported significant or moderate decreases in patient visits since January 2025. Patients expressed concerns including fear of deportation and family separation as reasons they avoided health care. In addition to a decrease in access the care, children are experiencing trauma, as they absorb and respond to the fear and anxiety of their families and communities. Migrant Clinicians Network calls for the expansion of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) framework to include immigration enforcement as a childhood traumatic event that can result in affects on development and lifelong health consequences. (See Expanding the ACEs Framework to Recognize Immigration Enforcement as Childhood Trauma.) More than 5.5 million US-citizen children live in homes with at least one family member who lacks authorization to live or work in the United States. Millions more have extended family members, community members, or friends whose authorization is at risk (like asylum seekers, refugees, or those with Temporary Protected Status) or who lack authorization altogether.
Clinician Trauma
In addition, clinicians are experiencing increased stress and moral distress as they watch their patients delay care because of fear. MCN hears regularly of clinicians in our network who are unable to do their jobs when trust and treatment cooperation are interrupted due to immigration enforcement fears. See below for additional clinician resources.
MCN applauds today’s announcement of a pause on most ICE traffic stops in the wake of these two shootings. However, this action falls short of addressing the profound and widespread harm that current immigration enforcement practices have inflicted on the health, safety, and well-being of immigrants and their families and communities. MCN calls for a comprehensive reevaluation of immigration policy, enforcement tactics, and detention practices, to reduce preventable harm, and to ensure enforcement is humane and accountable, our communities can remain safe, and fundamental human rights including access to health care are protected.
Resources for Clinicians
MCN’s Witness to Witness is dedicated to supporting clinicians who are themselves experiencing trauma as they struggle to care for their communities. Here are some resources for clinicians from Witness to Witness to support our clinical readers:
Healthy Sleep Tips | W2W Resource | Migrant Clinicians Network
A Daily Practice to Restore Equanimity | W2W Resource | Migrant Clinicians Network
MCN is currently offering a no-cost Trauma-Informed Care webinar series:
Watch the archived version of the first in the series.
Sign up for the second webinar, occurring July 23rd: Best Practices for Community-Based Participatory Campaigns | Migrant Clinicians Network
Be sure to be signed up for our mailing list (in English or Spanish) to receive notification of the third webinar in the series as well as other resources and trainings: Connect with MCN | Migrant Clinicians Network