As the White House tightens immigration restrictions, America’s rural heartland, yes, the people who voted in the current leadership, will not only lose the workers they need but the doctors who provide lifesaving medical care. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), notes that fully 25% of rural doctors are immigrants, many on visas that may not be renewed.
These doctors – and other immigrant health care workers – keep Americans healthy. They’ve been trained in American hospitals and now work in areas most of our native-born doctors would not even consider. Without the doctors, clinics and hospitals will shut down, forcing our rural population to travel further for even basic medical care.
Have their elected representatives spoken on this important issue? Only a few, who are not in the President’s camp to start with. Everyone else just cowers as the White House continues to bellow about criminal immigrants. It may be Schadenfreude, but they are now going to reap the whirlwind. And when they say, they didn’t vote for this, yes, they did. They certainly did.
Prayer for the Day
From all that preoccupies us draw us apart, O God,
Help us to be where we center ourselves on you;
From all that comforts us, O Holy One, discomfort us
And open our hearts to the cries of the world.
Move us from our failure of ourselves and of you,
So we are able to speak your truth to our Nation.
In the name of the One who opens our hearts to your truth,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
[F]oreign-born physicians are uniquely willing to serve rural communities even when few others move there. Immigration restrictions therefore risk cutting off one of the last remaining lifelines for rural healthcare access.
Manav Midha & Eric Duffy in JAMA, Feb. 6, 2026
With the implementation of the USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0194, I was effectively reclassified as a "high-risk alien" based solely on my country of birth. Overnight, a policy intended to address national security concerns became something else entirely: a direct obstacle to medical care.
Al Ghoula, pulmonologist, born in Libya, working in an underserved area
The wise layup knowledge, but the babbling of a fool brings ruin near.
Proverbs 10:14