The Trump administration’s immigration policies are resulting in decreased access to health care among undocumented immigrants, individuals with other immigration statuses, and U.S. citizens, according to a new survey of 173 health care professionals across the United States, published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). Medical professionals report that fear is already contributing to […]

The current climate surrounding immigration enforcement and deportation has created widespread fear that, according to health care providers, is directly reducing health care utilization. This avoidance extends beyond those that are undocumented to visa-holding immigrants, mixed-status families, and even U.S. citizens. Telehealth has emerged as a vital tool for maintaining access to care while minimizing […]

Individuals expelled from the United States to Panama in February 2025 without being allowed to present asylum claims appear to have psychological and physical symptoms consistent with their reports of torture, mistreatment, and/or persecution in their countries of origin, according to new evidence from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) submitted today by the Global Strategic […]

In an episode airing in March 2025, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” called for an end to the use of “excited delirium” as a cause of deaths in police custody. The segment cites PHR’s landmark 2022 report “Excited Delirium and Deaths in Police Custody,” which shows how the term is not a valid, independent […]

Following the Trump administration’s decision to end guidance protecting “sensitive locations” such as health care facilities from immigration enforcement actions, a new guide published today provides information to health care workers about how to navigate the new enforcement landscape while upholding ethical duties.  “Health Care and U.S. Immigration Enforcement: What Providers Should Know,” jointly published […]

Recent changes in regarding U.S. immigration enforcement have created new challenges for health care providers who are committed to ensuring care for all patients. This guide does not constitute legal advice but offers essential information to navigate the evolving enforcement landscape while upholding your duties as a health care professional. As a health care provider, […]

In an episode airing in March 2025, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” shined a light on U.S. immigration detention and how it jeopardizes the health, rights, and lives of people who are detained. The harrowing segment highlights two studies published in 2024 by PHR and partners: PHR continues to call for safe, humane, and […]

In response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s plans to drop United States v. Idaho, its lawsuit which would uphold EMTALA, a federal law ensuring that patients can access to emergency services, including abortion where needed, to stabilize a patient regardless of a person’s ability to pay, the following quote is attributable to Payal Shah, […]

President Trump’s policy agenda looks to compound suffering, threaten public health, and violate fundamental rights.  

In response to the Trump administration memorandum directing the U.S. government to prepare the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba to detain migrants, the following statement is attributable to Michael Payne, deputy director of advocacy at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR):  “The dark history of Guantánamo is getting a new chapter as the Trump administration looks […]

U.S. President Trump’s policy agenda will compound suffering, threaten public health, and violate long-standing human rights protections, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today. Several executive actions signed by the president yesterday represent inhumane, unlawful, and dangerous developments that attack people seeking asylum and other migrants, while other new policies erode global health and public […]

Following reports that the incoming Trump administration may once again invoke Title 42 public health authority to turn away asylum seekers and migrants at the border, leading epidemiologists, former CDC officials, and other public health experts reiterate their strong objection to any misuse of public health authority. While the first Trump administration directed the Centers […]

Idaho’s abortion ban has caused preventable medical crises and chaos in the state’s health system, according to an amicus curiae brief filed by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) for the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals hearing in Idaho v. United States, which opens in Pasadena, California on Tuesday.   While PHR’s amicus brief documents delayed […]

PHR fights for justice for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and empowers the clinicians that support them.

With Donald Trump set to become the next president of the United States, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) will mobilize its network and resources to protect human rights in the United States and around the globe.  Based on Trump’s campaign promises and his track-record during his first term, a second Trump administration poses major threats […]

Filed ahead of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals hearing in United States v. Idaho, PHR’s amicus brief documents delayed medical care and adverse health outcomes during “the injunction hiatus” – when Idaho’s abortion ban was allowed to pre-empt the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) protections. It also foreshadows the […]

Florida’s six-week abortion ban harms the health and safety of Florida patients while obstructing clinicians from providing basic reproductive and maternal medical care, according to a new research brief published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).   “Delayed and Denied: How Florida’s Abortion Ban Criminalizes Medical Care” is the first study to document the consequences […]

Florida’s extreme abortion ban has created an unworkable legal landscape that endangers both patients and clinicians.

The Supreme Court’s decision to avoid ruling on the conflict between Idaho’s extreme ban on access to abortion and a federal law guaranteeing access to abortions in cases of emergency provides a reprieve to pregnant patients in Idaho but leaves pregnant patients experiencing grave health risks and emergency room clinicians facing a medical ethics crisis […]

A new report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union, American Oversight, and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) exposes the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) flawed internal oversight mechanisms and failure to provide adequate medical and mental health care, resulting in preventable deaths of immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.  “Deadly Failures: […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s internal oversight mechanisms have failed to conduct rigorous investigations, impose meaningful consequences, or improve conditions that cause immigrants to die in ICE detention.

In the two years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, 14 states have banned abortion in almost all circumstances. As a result, growing numbers of clinicians are facing possible criminal and civil penalties for the provision of basic health care, creating real threats to public health and human rights.  

U.S. President Joe Biden’s new executive order placing arbitrary limits on asylum claims at the U.S. border subjects thousands of people escaping life-threatening violence to further risk and trauma, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today.  The restrictions, announced today, activate when the seven-day average for daily crossings reaches 2,500 people attempting to cross the […]

The Texas Supreme Court’s ruling today rejected the challenge to the state’s abortion restrictions, exposing both pregnant patients and physicians to significant risk, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).   In Zurawski v. State of Texas, the Texas Supreme Court refused to clarify the medical exceptions to the state’s abortion ban. The case was brought on […]

475 doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals have signed a letter demanding that the U.S. government end the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention facilities due to severe health harms caused by the practice, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today.   The effort represents the largest mobilization to date of medical professionals calling […]