AMA adopts new policies to improve health of immigrants and refugees

The American Medical Association (AMA) today voted to adopt new policies aimed at improving and protecting the health of immigrants and refugees who have come to the United States. The new policies were approved by physicians from all corners of the nation as they gathered at AMA’s Annual Meeting to shape the health care positions of the nation’s largest physician organization.

The AMA adopted policy today seeking to provide protections to families that have come to the United States as temporary refugees seeking safe-haven. Given the negative health consequences that detention has on both children and their parents, the AMA opposes family immigration detention, separation of children from their parents in detention, and any plans to expand these detention centers.