---
title: "Increased immigration enforcement tied to drop in ER visits by people born outside the U.S."
id: "stat-news-5-er-visits-from-people-born-outside-the-u-s-dropped-after-ice-raids"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/stat-news-5-er-visits-from-people-born-outside-the-u-s-dropped-after-ice-raids"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "General"
source_name: "STAT News"
source_url: "https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/health-news-er-visits-from-people-born-outside-the-u-s-dropped-after-ice-raids/?utm_campaign=rss"
published_at: "2026-10-07T11:50:41.000Z"
evidence_level: "Verified Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# Increased immigration enforcement tied to drop in ER visits by people born outside the U.S.
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/stat-news-5-er-visits-from-people-born-outside-the-u-s-dropped-after-ice-raids
- **Specialty:** [General](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/general.md)
- **Primary Source:** STAT News
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/health-news-er-visits-from-people-born-outside-the-u-s-dropped-after-ice-raids/?utm_campaign=rss)
- **Published At:** 2026-10-07T11:50:41.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Verified Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- A recent study published in **JAMA Network Open** examined emergency department use after heightened immigration enforcement in Los Angeles. - Researchers analyzed visits to three Los Angeles emergency rooms and found that visits by **people born outside the U.S.** fell sharply after mass ICE raids and increased arrests. - During the same period, hospital admission rates among that population increased, suggesting those who did present were sicker or delayed care until hospitalization was necessary. - Reporters and clinicians had previously described immigrants avoiding medical care amid enforcement actions and reports of deadly encounters with federal agents. - A Minneapolis pediatrician told STAT there had been a “huge lapse in care,” reflecting clinical observations of reduced health-seeking behavior among immigrant patients. - The study’s findings are interpreted to mean that **heightened immigration enforcement** may produce avoidance of acute care, with potential negative health and economic consequences for patients and health systems. - The STAT article places the study in a wider context of immigration policy, public health impact, and prior reporting documenting reduced access to and use of health services among immigrant communities. - The STAT piece did not report detailed methods, sample sizes, precise effect sizes, or specific time frames from the JAMA Network Open study; readers are referred to the original publication for those details.
## Clinical Analysis & Structured Key Points
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Test your knowledge with our new weekday mini crossword [ Start solving ](https://www.statnews.com/stat-mini-crossword/) Newsletter[Morning Rounds](https://www.statnews.com/category/health/morning-rounds/) # ER visits from people born outside the U.S. dropped after ICE raids ## The 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry winner, Democrats go MAHA for the midterms, and more health news * [Manage alerts for this article](https://www.statnews.com/my-account/edit/#emails) * [Save this story for later](https://www.statnews.com/my-account/saved/) * [Share this article](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/health-news-er-visits-from-people-born-outside-the-u-s-dropped-after-ice-raids/?utm_campaign=rss) ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/GettyImages-1208071757-645x645.jpg) ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/theresa-gaffney-avatar-round-80x80.png) By [Theresa Gaffney](https://www.statnews.com/staff/theresa-gaffney/) Oct. 7, 2026 Addiction Reporter ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/theresa-gaffney-avatar-round-80x80.png) [Theresa Gaffney](https://www.statnews.com/staff/theresa-gaffney/) 1. [](https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresa-gaffney-2484b494/ "Linkedin") 2. [](https://x.com/_gaffknee "X") theresa.gaffney@statnews.com Theresa covers substance use and addiction and co-writes the [Morning Rounds](https://www.statnews.com/signup/morning-rounds/) newsletter. You can reach Theresa on Signal at theresagaff.97. [Get email alerts for Theresa GaffneySigned up for email alertsRemove email alerts](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/health-news-er-visits-from-people-born-outside-the-u-s-dropped-after-ice-raids/?utm_campaign=rss) [Subscribe](https://www.statnews.com/stat-plus/) or [log in](https://www.statnews.com/login/) to STAT+ to unlock email alerts _Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds.[Sign up here](https://www.statnews.com/signup/morning-rounds/)._ Good morning. We’ve got a heartbreaking story from Jason Mast today on two friends with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. [Read that now](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/muscular-dystrophy-exon-skipping-drugs-novartis-dyne/), and if you need a pick-me-up afterward, read about our 2026 class of [Wunderkinds](https://www.statnews.com/wunderkinds/). Advertisement ## Democrats go MAHA for the midterms As the midterms approach, Democratic candidates including New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed are building agendas around issues like food and toxins that are important to the Make America Healthy Again movement. In some ways, it’s a rebranding of long-held progressive ideals, STAT’s Daniel Payne writes. Democrats are largely disregarding vaccine injuries, the signature issue of MAHA leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “A lot of [the MAHA activists] really don’t believe that their fight is partisan,” Ocasio-Cortez said on a podcast in July, “and it’s not in many ways.” [Read more](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/democrats-focus-on-food-toxins-win-maha-voters-midterm-elections/) from Daniel on the midterm push to woo MAHA voters, as well as what universal health issue still looms larger than the others. ## 83% That’s the percentage of adults with health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts who would put that money toward oral care products like toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash, if it were allowed. That interest is even higher among families and younger adults, according to a recent survey of 1,200 people by the [_Consumer Healthcare Products Association_](https://www.chpa.org/new-national-survey-october-2026). Advertisement HSAs and FSAs usually [_don’t cover_](https://hsastore.com/hsa-eligibility-list/t/toothbrush?srsltid=AU7gw4UYgfK0dS_WVwVmnjqKlLgyyFCS2qLOUJhe93l4w9KtVDQZaDUe) “general health products” like toothbrushes. But as sellers of these accounts [_beef up their lobbying power_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/31/hsa-industry-lobbying-push-health-savings-accounts/) to expand the market, the distinction between what is and isn’t covered starts to sound silly. Internally, a few STAT staffers have closely followed the growing list of products that you _can_ use your HSA to buy: mountain bikes, Meta glasses, saunas, [_radiation-blocking underwear_](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/health/calley-means-truemed-trump-health-savings.html) … etc. ## Worried about the plague? Read this Infectious disease doctor Krutika Kuppalli’s new opinion column for STAT, ID Consult, is arriving just in time. In the wake of our collective Covid trauma, the recent death of a 28-year-old in Russia who worked at a lab that studies, among other diseases, the plague, has raised concerns around the world. (The WHO has said the case presents a [_“very low” risk_](https://apnews.com/article/russia-plague-trump-who-irkutsk-5aa82b8bc3d8300c551cd0e1bf91e32c) outside Russia.) Kuppalli offers some factual reassurance: There’s no evidence that this is the start of the next pandemic. Currently, we don’t even know what truly caused this person’s pneumonia. But as Kuppalli also explains, there’s historical context that requires transparency and independent verification here. [Read more](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/06/russia-plague-reports-pneuomonia-siberia-expert-calm/) on why reports out of Russia deserve attention, not panic. ## Two friends, one diagnosis, disparate outcomes Yannick and Brecken became friends because of their diagnosis. Each boy, age 13 and 12 respectively, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare, fatal muscle-wasting disease. But only Brecken has received a [_promising new drug_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/04/08/duchenne-exon-skipping-breakthrough-one-mother-quest/) to treat the condition. The medicine makes the cell’s protein-building machinery “skip” part of the gene, called an exon, behind Duchenne. But it won’t work for everyone — it has to be targeted to a patient’s specific mutation. As Brecken grows, Yannick is losing function. This summer, the company that makes Brecken’s treatment delayed a clinical trial for another drug candidate that would treat Yannick. Brecken decided to write a letter to the company, his mom told STAT’s Jason Mast. “My friend Yannick is waiting to get the next Avidity therapy,” Brecken wrote. “He was so happy when I got it.” Advertisement [Read Jason’s heartbreaking story](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/muscular-dystrophy-exon-skipping-drugs-novartis-dyne/) about two friends with vastly different experiences and the regulatory landscape that has some parents taking matters into their own hands. ## 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded for research with an impact on pharmacology Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry this morning for “the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.” They solved a chemical mystery: Some molecules exist in the world that are mirror images of one another, a phenomenon known as chirality, from the Greek word from hand (as hands are mirror images of one another). Amino acids are among chiral molecules, and a living organism can only contain one of the versions. The other mirror molecule is found rarely elsewhere in nature, but prior to the laureates’ experiments, how such imbalance could occur was not understood. Their research has an important impact in pharmacology, as [_more than half_](https://pubs.rsc.org/ra/article/14/45/33429/867139/The-significance-of-chirality-in-contemporary-drug) clinically employed drugs are chiral. For instance novrad, a cough medicine, and darvon, a painkiller, are mirror images of one another (hence their mirror names, too). — _Annalisa Merelli_ ## ER visits from people born outside the U.S. dropped after ICE raids Amid mass ICE raids, dramatically increased arrests, and [_deadly encounters_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/01/26/alex-pretti-minneapolis-shooting-health-workers-vigil/) with federal agents, it’s long been clear that many immigrant patients are [_avoiding medical treatment_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/03/ice-immigration-crackdown-impact-on-health-care/). “There’s been a huge lapse in care,” a Minneapolis-based pediatrician told STAT’s Daniel Payne in February. A study published Monday in [_JAMA Network Open_](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2854836?guestAccessKey=f426c7f0-33b7-4d19-8ef2-efd4041a0a11) puts some hard numbers to those claims. Researchers found that visits by people born outside of the U.S. to three Los Angeles emergency rooms dropped precipitously after immigration enforcement increased last year. At the same time, the number of hospital admissions among that population rose, suggesting that “heightened immigration enforcement may lead to avoidance of acute care among immigrant patients, with potential negative health and economic consequences for patients and the systems who care for them.” ## A WUNDERful bunch of scientists Today, STAT announced the [_2026 Wunderkinds_](https://www.statnews.com/wunderkinds/), an annual roster of ambitious, intelligent doctors and researchers at the beginning of their careers. This year, we’re spotlighting people working on important issues like “chain of thought” cognition, how immune systems talk to one another, and ethical debates in medicine. In their spare time, these scientists listen to house music, train for marathons, and hang out with the adorable 2026 class of Wunderkind pets. Advertisement Here’s a preview of some of the scholars in this year’s cohort, but I encourage you to take a spin through [_all of the profiles_](https://www.statnews.com/wunderkinds/): * Physician-researcher [Andy Zeng](https://www.statnews.com/wunderkinds/andy-zeng/) was already interested in biology in college. But a visit to his grandmother, near the end of her life in China, planted the seed for his singular focus on understanding cancer. Today, he uses cutting-edge tools to illuminate how stem cells influence cancer. * For years, Duke researcher [Drew Schreiner](https://www.statnews.com/wunderkinds/drew-schreiner/) observed rodents pressing levers to get rewards of cocaine, methamphetamine, and food. 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What happened to Christa Pike wasn’t an anomoly, [ProPublica](https://www.propublica.org/article/christa-pike-tennessee-execution-lethal-injection-failure) * My oncologist recommended active surveillance for prostate cancer. Life insurers called it ‘untreated cancer,’ [STAT](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/07/active-surveillance-prostate-cancer-life-insurance-policy/) * Are federal disability rights at risk? [WNYC](https://wnyc.org/browse/shows/episode/simplecast/cb5b8194-7237-40f0-b79c-bf7c7fd068b6) * What Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak could mean for pregnancy care across America, [The 19th](https://19thnews.org/2026/10/pennsylvania-measles-pregnancy-care-america/) [health care](https://www.statnews.com/topic/health-care/), [Health Disparities](https://www.statnews.com/topic/health-disparities/), [hospitals](https://www.statnews.com/topic/hospitals/), [immigration](https://www.statnews.com/topic/immigration/), [Policy](https://www.statnews.com/topic/policy/), [public health](https://www.statnews.com/topic/public-health/) [Submit a correction request](https://www.statnews.com/contact/?how_can_we_help_=Editorial%20Correction%20Request)[Reprints](https://www.parsintl.com/publications/stat/) 1. ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/theresa-gaffney-avatar-round-80x80.png) [Theresa Gaffney](https://www.statnews.com/staff/theresa-gaffney/) 1. 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