We write as health-care professionals from across Oregon — physicians, advanced practice clinicians, nurses, medical assistants, behavioral-health providers, dentists, community health workers, public health professionals, and clinic staff — committed to providing essential care to every patient who walks through our doors. We are united by a simple principle: every person deserves safe access to health care, without fear.

In recent months, Oregon families — especially those in mixed-status and immigrant communities — have become increasingly afraid to seek care. Parents are avoiding medical appointments for their children. Individuals with chronic illnesses are skipping essential medications. Even routine visits for vaccinations, prenatal care, and mental-health support are being delayed or forgone entirely because patients fear exposure to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This fear is a public-health crisis, and it is affecting entire communities — including the deeply diverse and heavily immigrant health-care workforce who care for them. When enforcement — or even rumors of enforcement — reaches exam rooms and waiting rooms, patients and front-line workers experience secondary trauma, burnout, and moral distress. Our clinics cannot function when our patients and our colleagues do not feel protected.

Oregon has long stood as a national leader in safeguarding health access for all. We are grateful for those efforts. But federal immigration tactics increasingly undermine those protections, and state leadership is urgently needed.

We are urging Governor Tina Kotek and Oregon’s state and federal elected officials to take immediate action 

1️⃣ Strengthen sanctuary protections in medical spaces: protect patients and providers from immigration enforcement in health-care settings. Health care facilities must remain safe, interference-free environments for care.  No one should fear that seeking treatment could lead to detention.

2️⃣ Prevent medical neglect in detention: Every person in Oregon’s custody deserves timely, humane medical care and access to their life sustaining medications.

3️⃣ Support tools that help vulnerable families stay connected to care: Community health workers, expanded telemedicine, mobile clinics, mail-delivered medications and increased access to mental health to save lives. 

Please join us in this urgent call to protect the health and dignity of all immigrant families in Oregon. By signing this petition, you are standing up for a safer and healthier community for everyone. Let us uphold the principle that health care is a universal right and should never be compromised by fear.