HYATTSVILLE, Md. - Maryland's Hispanic community has grown to about 10 percent of the total population, and many don't have health insurance.
A collaborative effort is under way in Maryland to provide health care to those who can't afford it. The focus is on Prince George's County, which has the highest rate of uninsured residents in Maryland.
In the Hispanic community, about 87 percent of adults lack medical insurance.
La Clínica del Pueblo and Doctors Community Hospital have teamed up to offer preventive and specialty care at a new location next to the Prince George's Plaza Metro Station.
Alicia Wilson is executive director at La Clínica. She says the collaboration will lead to healthier people.
"Before, our providers would send someone to a specialist and keep their fingers crossed that they might get a report back," says Wilson. "Or a hospital would discharge someone and keep their fingers crossed that patient could get plugged into a primary-care provider."
Wilson says there's a severe shortage of primary care doctors in Maryland, especially those who speak Spanish and who will serve the uninsured. The new clinic will open in June.
Wilson says Maryland's Hispanic community has increased dramatically in the past 15 years and she expects more collaborations like this across the state.
"The Affordable Care Act has really ushered in a new way of doing business," says Wilson. "And in Maryland in particular there are some opportunities to sort of build a continuum of care and not have hospitals and primary care and specialists all living in different universes."
Wilson says some of the funding for the clinic came from the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission, CareFirst and private foundations.
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California is bracing for large-scale immigration raids - and groups that advocate for children are speaking out against the climate of fear.
Recently an 11-year-old girl in Texas committed suicide after allegedly being bullied about her family's immigration status.
Mayra Alvarez - the president of The Children's Partnership, which is based in LA - said the sense of dread that a parent might be deported is extremely stressful and can lead to physical illness.
"That day to day worrying," said Alvarez, "that leads to a host of health issues, everything from increased anxiety, and depression, to stomachaches, to behaviors that aren't reflective of who they are."
Almost half of California's 9 million children have at least one immigrant parent. One in ten, or about a million children, have an undocumented parent. And one in five lives in a mixed-status family.
California legislators passed Assembly Bill 699 to protect immigrant students, but schools cannot block Immigration and Customs Enforcement from coming on campus if they have a court order.
The Trump administration has changed the rules to clear the way for immigration raids in sensitive locations like churches, hospitals, and schools - something Alvarez condemned.
"Immigration enforcement actions shouldn't unnecessarily deter immigrants - again, many of those immigrants are parents of U.S. citizen children - from participating in those very essential activities," said Alvarez, "dropping their kids off at school, going to the doctor, going to church or other religious services."
Advocates are praising local efforts to inform people of their rights and help parents make a plan in case a family member is detained by agents with ICE.
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According to the Immigration Policy Tracking Project, the Trump administration has taken 130 actions on immigration so far this term. Groups in Montana are trying to both track those changes and watch state bills.
One early executive order placed a 90-day freeze on refugee arrivals to the country, halting families with flights already booked to the U.S. Another made changes to Temporary Protected Status and Humanitarian Parole, granted when a person's home country is deemed unsafe due to armed conflict, natural disaster or other emergencies.
Mary Poole, executive director of the nonprofit resettlement agency Soft Landing Missoula, said the orders could undo years of work.
"This rapid removal of humanitarian protections, that's one thing that's really scary for folks," Poole observed. "Many people came here through this new legal pathway that Biden created and it might just be deemed null and void."
Two Montana immigration bills passed the House and were brought to the Senate last week. One would require police to check and report someone's immigration status during a "lawful stop" and the other would allow the state to criminally prosecute a person in federal detention for immigration violations.
Soft Landing Missoula works with 600 refugees and immigrants from 30 different countries. Poole said
the organization has taken on new work with the change in federal administration, including immigrant rights' training.
"Immigrants have rights," Poole emphasized. "Making sure that folks are aware of what those are and how our organizations and facilities can uphold those rights, that's a really important piece of the work that we've been doing."
According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, if immigration officials come to a person's home, they do not need to answer a knock without a warrant signed by a judge, containing the person's correct name and address. People approached also have the right to remain silent.
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A northwest Texas family is waiting to hear from agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a recent traffic stop.
Jose is in the country illegally and was taken into custody by ICE agents after he and his wife, Ashley, were stopped by Lubbock police. Ashley said the incident was traumatizing for her and their three children.
"My oldest son, he was crying, because they were being really rough with his dad," Ashley explained. "They're slamming him against the window where he's at, and he's asking, 'Why are they taking him?' And I'm trying to explain to my 4-year-old that his dad's here illegally. He doesn't understand that."
Jose, who's from Central America, was eventually released and told to report for a hearing, but Ashley pointed out they have received conflicting information about upcoming court proceedings.
Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an attorney in Austin representing the family, said they will fight to keep Jose from being deported. She added the couple had hired an attorney to get Jose his Green Card.
"This story highlights the fact that ICE is not just apprehending and placing people with criminal histories into immigration detention," Lincoln-Goldfinch noted. "Now, because of this incident, Jose has been placed into deportation proceedings. And this is one more person in the already backlogged immigration court system."
Ashley added if Jose is deported, she and their children will go to Central America with him.
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