How Trump’s immigration crackdown puts Americans’ healthcare at risk

I n a state plagued by high rates of cancer and low life expectancies, Ali’s colleagues say he’s exactly the kind of doctor West Virginia needs. Ali, who comes from Afghanistan, moved to the state in 2020 with a visa status that requires him to work in communities or hospitals without enough doctors. “I realized there is a shortage of physicians in general,” said Ali, who is in his late 30s and one day hopes to become a specialist and treat patients with cancers and other diseases in his adopted home, where the rolling hills remind him of rural Afghanistan. For now, he cares for patients at a large hospital in a coalfield region of the state. Last year, he treated more than 1,600 patients, more than 80% of whom are on Medicare or Medicaid, the US government health insurance schemes that largely serve older and low-income patients. Many live in rural areas shaped by the mixed legacy of a declining coal mining industry. Patients sometimes travel up to two hours to receive care at the hospital where he works because they have limited access to doctors and, particularly, specialists. Ali is a pseudonym and the Guardian is also withholding his location as a precaution in his immigration case. He routinely treats people with liver diseases, often caused by heavy drinking, and manages the complications of obesity-driven diabetes, both widespread health problems in the state. …