On April 23, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a measure which will allow police to determine a person’s immigration status, if they are stopped and there is “reasonable” suspicion they are in the country illegally. As APHA members prepare to attend the upcoming Annual Meeting, whose theme is “Social Justice: A Public Health Imperative,” we need to give thought to all people living in the country, no matter how they entered. Many public health programs including CHW programs offer services to people regardless of immigration status. The new Arizona law, taking affect on July 29, should be of concern to all of us. This sounds like profiling to me; as an African American in the United States I understand this is not far-fetched.  There are many immigrants in the United States, and those who do not look like Caucasian Americans are being singled out. Even sadder, Hispanic Americans must be prepared to prove their citizenship on demand.

I wonder what side effects the law will have and question whether or not they are intentional or not. Many Hispanic families are moving from Arizona, similar to the exodus which happened in 2007 when the state passed a law to enhance penalties for businesses which hired undocumented workers. I’m concerned not only for the adults, who may be unable to find work to support families, but also for the children.  The children suffer when their parents are unable to buy food, afford shelter and clothing. Many families in our border states and elsewhere are mixed status families. We are setting up laws which may intentionally separate parents and children; we should be ashamed.

According to a USA Today article, "Hispanics Moving Out of Arizona", appearing on Wednesday, June 9, 2010, children are leaving schools at alarming rates in Hispanic communities. The Elementary School District, largely Hispanic, recently lost 70 children. During the same period last year only seven children left the school system. This is extremely alarming to me. All children in the United States should have equal access to education. We know the relationship between education and health. I only hope these children being pulled from schools in Arizona are enrolled in other states, but who knows?  Although Arizona is in the news and being singled out, other states may follow. 

Our new health care reform law made no provisions for the undocumented. They are not even able to buy into the insurance exchanges with their own money.  his may have been the opening many states were looking for to put the wheels of discrimination further in motion.  As community health workers and promotores(as), we promote access to health care and social services. By the nature of our work, for the populations and communities we serve, we don’t ask to see documentation before offering our services, nor should we. I offer a silver lining to be found in these new challenges. This is an opportunity for community health workers and promotores(as) to find common ground to promote social justice.  This is yet another opportunity for the field to have our unified voice heard though policy development. We cannot be silent bystanders.

I urge all of us, promotores(as) and CHWs alike, to become engaged. We need to work together to ensure the communities we care about, and are members of, are not further discriminated against. Social Justice is a public health imperative and we are members of the public health work force!