• Health Impacts of Immigration

    The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) recognizes that immigration policies aimed at denying basic human rights to immigrant and refugee persons, documented or undocumented, can limit access to vital health care services, including comprehensive primary care.

    The AAFP recommends that health care systems should meet standards of care without compromising immigrant persons' rights. It also supports privacy protections for medical records of all immigrant persons, whether documented or undocumented, equal to those afforded to U.S. citizens.

    The AAFP also recommends timely access to healthcare for immigrant persons in detention facilities and measures to reduce toxic stress associated with the threat of detention and deportation.

    The AAFP also supports appropriate payment of physicians for care delivered to immigrant persons and their families. (July 2019 BOD) (2019 COD)