Trump’s immigration crackdown may put doctors out of jobs

Key Points:

• Nearly 1,000 patients annually rely on Dr. Faysal Al Ghoula, a Libyan-born pulmonologist in Indiana, who fears losing his work authorization due to immigration policy changes targeting nationals from 39 "high-risk" countries, causing indefinite delays in visa and green card processing.
• These policy shifts, initiated under the Trump administration and continued by USCIS, have put thousands of foreign-born doctors in limbo, many of whom serve rural and underserved areas, threatening healthcare access and exacerbating physician shortages nationwide.
• The American Medical Association and other groups have urged exemptions for physicians, highlighting their critical role, but USCIS has only vaguely indicated possible case-by-case exemptions, leaving many doctors uncertain about their futures and some already forced out of work.
• The freeze also affects medical residents and fellows from these countries, complicating hospital staffing and residency program funding, with some programs unable to rank or accept applicants from affected nations, further straining the healthcare workforce pipeline.
• Several impacted doctors have filed lawsuits challenging the policy, but legal resolutions may take years; meanwhile, some physicians are considering leaving the US, risking long-term damage to communities reliant on immigrant medical professionals.