Immigrants make up nearly 16% of Philadelphia’s population of 1.6 million, according to a 2024 report from Pew Charitable Trusts . Pew reports this marks the largest percentage since the 1940s, and above the national percentage of 13.
9%. I am a neonatologist – a pediatrician who’s trained to care for babies in the neonatal intensive care unit – in the city. I’m also a perinatal health services researcher and study the health care and health outcomes of pregnant mothers and their infants.
Because of my dual jobs, I know how important preventive health care is for decreasing the risk of disease, disability and death . However, I also know that the political rhetoric around immigration – as well as public policies that create fear or confusion about how medical care could affect immigration status – discourage immigrants from seeking medical attention, a phenomenon described as the chilling effect. In 2021, working with community partners Puentes de Salud and Maternity Care Coalition , my research team interviewed 24 Latina immigrant mothers in Philadelphia and the Kennett Square area.
Kennett Square is about 45 miles outside Philadelphia, and its large mushroom industry draws many immigrant laborers. All of the mothers we interviewed had been pregnant during or after the new public charge rules went into effect during the Trump administration. These new rules mandated, for the first time ever, that receiving public benefits like Medicaid and food assistance might .