Leaders of the Committee of Interns and Residents, a national union representing 13,000 interns, residents and fellows, released the following statement today in response to the implementation of Arizona State Law SB 1070:

Yesterday’s decision by a U.S. District Judge to temporarily block some provisions of SB1070 is little relief to the resident physicians represented by our organization or our colleagues in Arizona. Unless all of the draconian provisions of this law are permanently repealed, it could jeopardize the mission of the resident physicians who work on the front lines of our health care delivery system, both in the state of Arizona and potentially in future states looking to adopt their own variants of this inhumane, anti-immigrant law. This statute requires law enforcement to determine the immigration status of an individual when those officials have “reasonable suspicion” and makes it a criminal infraction to even be in the state without proper documentation.  Without question, both doctors and patients will be negatively impacted.

The Committee of Interns and Residents is the nation’s oldest and largest resident physician union.  The doctors who make up our membership work the emergency rooms, clinics, and wards of our nation’s safety-net hospitals, including many “providers of last resort” – public hospitals and clinics which treat all patients in need, regardless of ability to pay.  It is inevitable for the values of physicians to clash with a law assessing a criminal penalty to those who “conceal, harbor or shield or attempt to conceal, harbor or shield” undocumented immigrants “including any building or any means of transportation” – along with hospitals and ambulances. 

It should also be noted that a significant portion of our membership is comprised of international medical graduates – doctors who are in this country on visas, bringing their skills, talents, and passion to enrich our nation’s health care system.  At a time when the shortage of practicing primary care physicians is of national concern, an estimated 58% of international medical graduates work in primary care specialties.  SB 1070 puts the legal immigrant physicians who are indispensible to the functioning of our health care system into unnecessary danger of harassment. Without their white coats and stethoscopes, we have considerable concern that the 22% of physicians practicing in Arizona who happen to have been born in another country might easily attract the “reasonable suspicion” of local law enforcement as well.

But even greater than our concern for resident physicians is our concern for our patients in need.  We vehemently oppose Arizona’s state law.  At a time when undocumented workers already face obstacles to obtaining care, we are concerned that this law creates an additional barrier to access.  This will unquestionably accelerate trends that are already leading to deteriorating health of a significant working population and may even threaten public health and safety.  Simply put, when someone is gravely ill, they should go to the emergency room.  However, by definition of SB 1070, an undocumented immigrant merely being present on the “public or private land” on which the emergency room sits would be redefined as criminal trespass.  The atmosphere of discrimination and intimidation caused by the enforcement of this law by local law officials who are routinely present in emergency rooms and hospitals will prevent more and more patients from getting the care they need when they need it. 

As rational, humane physicians we say NO to such inhumane treatment of our patients and hope an enlightened citizenry does the same, either through a full repeal of this outrageous law or through the swift action of the judicial system.