\u201cPatients are not coming in, they\u2019re just avoiding or delaying medical care,\u201d said Eva Galvez, a doctor who works in Washington County. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a massive disruption of chronic disease management, people rationing medications, patients avoiding preventative visits, tests and vaccines.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just patients who lack legal status who are staying away, Galvez said. Deep anxiety is rippling through the Latino communities at large, she said, because many families have mixed immigration status, including undocumented parents who aren\u2019t bringing their U.S. citizen children for care. <\/p>\n
Few immigrants facing health care problems talked directly to The Oregonian\/OregonLive over weeks of reporting this story, concerned they would expose themselves to arrest. Several doctors who spoke to the newspaper asked not to name their clinics to protect their staff and patients from potential ICE incursions. <\/p>\n
That wariness shows up in waning enrollment in public benefits. Healthier Oregon \u2014 the state-funded, Medicaid-like program open to income-eligible residents regardless of immigration status \u2014 saw enrollment drop by about 10,000 people, or 9%, between June and this January, according to state health officials. They attributed the drop to mounting data privacy concerns and stepped-up immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
The pattern extends far beyond Oregon. Health care providers in communities targeted by immigration enforcement nationwide report fewer patients seeking care and rising distress, particularly among children, with some doctors accusing federal agents of interfering with medical decisions<\/a>.<\/p>\n A November survey<\/a> by Physicians for Human Rights and Migrant Clinicians Network found that 84% of more than 690 health care workers in 30 states reported significant or moderate declines in patient visits after January 2025. Parents, the survey found, are making the same calculation doctors in Oregon describe \u2014 weighing medical needs against the risk of detention or deportation.<\/p>\n The consequences, doctors say, are far-reaching: Delayed care turns manageable illnesses into medical emergencies \u2014 and, in some cases, preventable suffering and death. Treatment then shifts to costly emergency rooms, where care is far more expensive and frequently goes unpaid. Those costs don\u2019t disappear \u2014 hospitals absorb them and pass them on to patients and taxpayers.<\/p>\n And though clinics, hospitals and legislators are working on interim solutions, it\u2019s unclear whether those efforts can quell the desperation now shaping the way many immigrants navigate their lives, including even the most basic medical decisions. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a looming health care crisis,\u201d said Galvez, who asked The Oregonian\/OregonLive not to identify her clinic\u2019s location due to staff and client safety.<\/p>\n A growing care gap<\/p>\n Dr. Antonio Germann, who oversees two Woodburn-based nonprofit community clinics that serve low-income and predominantly Latino communities, said no-shows and canceled appointments among Spanish-speaking patients have climbed over the past several months, reaching 20% in some weeks.<\/p>\n Patients with dangerously high blood sugar or uncontrolled blood pressure are simply not coming in, he said. Others with diabetes, Germann added, have seen their disease spiral out of control after skipping prescriptions because they\u2019re afraid to go to the pharmacy.<\/p>\n \u201cIf people aren\u2019t accessing preventive care, they\u2019re potentially setting themselves up for more serious health problems that could have been avoided,\u201d Germann said. \u201cThen it leads to more emergency department visits \u2026 when we could have intervened with some prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n That shift places added strain on emergency departments, he said, which are required by federal law to treat all patients, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay.<\/p>\n Germann said he\u2019s now seeing patients with more advanced disease because they\u2019ve waited too long. But many, he said, are refusing to go to a specialist or to the hospital for necessary care. <\/p>\n For example, Germann said his team recently cared for an undocumented patient diagnosed with pancreatic cancer who was afraid to go to a Portland hospital to begin treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really had to support them with a number of follow-up phone calls to help them understand that they really needed to go to a hospital,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After weeks of outreach, Germann said, the patient eventually sought care. <\/p>\n For Dr. Genoveva Ollervides O\u2019Neill, a family physician and vice president of Free Clinic of Southwest Washington in Vancouver, the fear often surfaces in quieter moments. <\/p>\n She recalled treating a 4-month-old baby whose parents were worried about their daughter\u2019s \u201cshaking\u201d episodes. After reviewing videos that the mother showed, O\u2019Neill said she feared the baby might be having seizures and recommended an urgent referral to a pediatric neurologist.<\/p>\n But the mother hesitated, according to O\u2019Neill, explaining that she and her family were undocumented. Despite O\u2019Neill\u2019s concerns, the family ultimately declined the referral.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were very afraid of what may happen if they went to the hospitals in Portland,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cI tried to explain to her the severity of my concern, but it was clear that her fear of being separated from the life she had built was big enough to drown her anxiety about her baby\u2019s potential diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill said she\u2019s seeing the same fear take a toll on teenagers. A 16-year-old patient came in struggling with insomnia and anxiety, she said, overwhelmed with daily worry that her undocumented parents might not come home from work. Her parents were too afraid to travel to the appointment, O\u2019Neill said, leaving the teen to navigate medical decisions on her own.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is incredibly disheartening to struggle to provide the basic care that should be available to everyone,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cA person\u2019s immigration status holds no bearing on how their body functions, but has now become a real factor in their medical treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Toren Davis, a family medicine doctor who treats patients both in clinic and hospital settings in Vancouver, said it has become increasingly common for pregnant patients to arrive at the hospital to give birth having received little or no prenatal care.<\/p>\n \u201cOne reason we\u2019re seeing limited prenatal care is fear of leaving the home,\u201d Davis said. \u201cPeople are afraid of being detained while pregnant and what that could mean for their child.\u201d<\/p>\n Missing prenatal visits can mean missing screenings for conditions like gestational diabetes or infections, increasing the risk of preventable complications \u2014 and even death \u2014 for both mother and baby, Davis said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a complex health crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cThe weight of our current reality harms health in multiple ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Detentions, data sharing fears <\/p>\n Hospitals and medical clinics were once considered off-limits to immigration enforcement. But that sense of safety eroded last year when Trump rescinded a long-standing policy<\/a> that had restricted enforcement actions at health care facilities and other \u201csensitive locations,\u201d including schools and churches. <\/p>\n The effects were swift. In Hillsboro, a Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center clinic went into lockdown in October as a precaution for patient and staff safety because ICE agents were near the facility. The health center is one of the region\u2019s most important safety nets, especially for immigrants in the region. Immigration detentions were also reported near several other area clinics. <\/p>\n In Portland earlier this month, three unmarked cars with immigration agents surrounded the car of a Gresham family, including a 7-year-old child<\/a>, in the Adventist Health ER parking lot as the girl\u2019s parents sought emergency care for her. The child never saw a doctor. The family \u2014 immigrants from Venezuela with a pending asylum case \u2014 was detained and flown to a detention center in Texas, where they remain.<\/p>\n Two weeks earlier at the same medical campus, a Border Patrol agent cornered, shot and wounded a man and woman from Venezuela. According to court records,<\/a> the man was there to take his partner to a medical appointment when six agents in four unmarked cars tried to box in their pickup truck. The two, who both entered the country without authorization, fled after ramming an unoccupied Border Patrol rental car with their truck and called 911. They\u2019re now facing federal charges. <\/p>\n Cases of arrests at hospitals have also been reported in other states \u2013 including most recently in Minnesota, where ICE agents followed a seriously ill patient to a hospital room<\/a> without a judicial warrant, shackling the patient to a bed for 24 hours before hospital staff forced them to leave. <\/p>\n In mid-December, Oregon\u2019s largest nurses union accused Legacy Health<\/a> of allowing ICE officers to roam the halls and units at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, one of the state\u2019s busiest trauma centers, to shackle patients to their beds and make medical decisions for the detainees. Hospital system officials said they treat immigration agents as they would any other law enforcement officers. Earlier this month, the hospital sent a cease-and-desist letter to the nurses union, accusing it of making \u2018false and misleading statements\u2019 about its policies and asking it to stop. <\/p>\n Health care providers said worries have also deepened amid concerns<\/a> that personal health information could be used for deportation purposes. In late December, a federal judge in California cleared the way<\/a> for immigration authorities to access some Medicaid data, including names, addresses and dates of birth. The patients affected are those who have sought emergency care, which is paid for by federal dollars.<\/p>\n The Oregon Health Authority warned the decision could have a chilling effect<\/a> on people seeking crucial medical treatment. Health policy researchers at KFF<\/a>, a nonprofit health policy research organization, also cautioned that federal health databases aren\u2019t designed to reliably separate people by immigration status, raising the risk that legal immigrants and U.S. citizens could be swept into enforcement efforts. <\/p>\n At the same time, immigration detentions have become increasingly data-driven. Palantir, a technology firm that has long worked with ICE, has developed a tool known as ELITE that consolidates government data \u2013 including health care data \u2013 and maps potential deportation targets. The Oregonian\/OregonLive<\/a> reported on court testimony that showed ICE officers used the tool during enforcement actions in Woodburn<\/a>. <\/p>\n Seeking solutions on the front lines<\/p>\n At Woodburn Pediatric Clinic, manager Deb Bartel said staff members have posted signs stating immigration agents aren\u2019t permitted in exam rooms and now escort patients directly into private areas rather than having them wait in the lobby.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try really hard to make our clinic feel like a safe space for them,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to get much better for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n The clinic has expanded telehealth visits and spends hours calling families who are too afraid to come in \u2014 service time that Bartel said the clinic doesn\u2019t bill to insurers or patients. Staff members are also helping families set up legal agreements allowing trusted friends and distant relatives to bring children to appointments. <\/p>\n The clinic also has a team of people working to help patients stay on Medicaid benefits, even as many worry about their data being shared.<\/p>\n Other clinics have taken similar steps. Germann, the doctor in Woodburn, said his staff has been increasingly accommodating virtual visits.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing everything in our capacity to create a safe environment for our families and patients,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to be creative in solutions for telemedicine and alternative ways to reach out to patients and connect them to the care they need.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HD5D7SBP4BAXVFWUFGVEZVHOKI.JPG\")
Dr. Antonio Germann, who oversees two nonprofit community clinics in Woodburn serving low-income, predominantly Latino patients, said delayed care is leading to more advanced disease, with many patients refusing referrals for hospital or specialty treatment.Beth Nakamura<\/p>\n![\"AMR](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GUYU24ZU3ZHP5KPM7YPGP3P65A.jpg\")
Ambulances sit outside the Emergency entrance of Legacy Emanuel hospital in Northeast Portland. Doctors say many Spanish-speaking patients are refusing to go to a specialist or to the hospital for necessary care. The Oregonian<\/p>\n![\"Adventist](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/D2MMGXWOWZFHDLXG7LOGTTAVPA.JPG\")
Outside the emergency department at Adventist Health Portland in Southeast Portland on Jan. 29, 2026. The family\u2019s vehicle was parked in the next space past the blue car on the driver\u2019s side when federal immigration agents detained the parents and their 7-year-old daughter here Jan. 16 after they sought emergency medical care for the child, according to a family friend.Mark Graves\/The Oregonian<\/p>\n![\"Legacy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/QYFXMKHBKNBTPDRZVJS7FFQBDM.jpg\")
Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Northeast Portland. <\/p>\n