To be sure, every presidential administration for the past 30 years has deported undocumented immigrants, though mostly at or near the border.
What feels different about this upcoming term — and why medical professionals will need to play a more active role in protecting their patients — is the scope. The specter of mass and potentially indiscriminate roundups feels more akin to the shameful internment of Japanese immigrants and Japanese American citizens during World War II.
Historically, health care workers have not always risen to the occasion when our patients have been targeted. Our recent history is tarnished by failures to report abuses or intervene at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay, as well as by forced sterilizations of prisoners, women of color and people with disabilities.
But patient advocacy is integral to health care. Medical professionals constantly battle insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers to get our patients’ medical treatments covered. We tussle with our own institutions to expedite CT scans and medical appointments. We write advocacy letters for things like walkers and dental clearance and problems with bathroom mold and jury duty. But in this upcoming era we may have to face off against our own federal government.