Trump's revised Muslim ban would hurt the low-income Americans who voted for him in Appalachia and the Rust Belt.
Joanne Lin, Senior Legislative Counsel, ACLU & Katie Egan, Washington Legislative Office
The potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, isn't the only thing threatening Americans' health. President Trump's revised Muslim Ban 2.0, which seeks to ban nationals from six Muslim-majority countries, would reduce the number of foreign physicians who provide mediacl care to Americans. Although the ban has been blocked by two federal courts, the Justice Department has announced that it will appeal the preliminary injunction in the Maryland court decision and will continue to defend the ban in court.
While President Trump framed Muslim Ban 2.0 as an urgent national security measure, it ironically could harm another form of security for some of America's most vulnerable communities. If implemented, it could jeopardize the health of many Americans, including those living in the Rust Belt and Appalachia who voted for Trump, by creating a shortage of highly skilled doctors immigrating to the United States. According to a recent study by graduate economic students at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there are more than 7,000 physicians from the six banned countries of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen working throughout the U.S. Indeed 94 percent of Americans live in a community with at least one physician from a banned country.
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