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Marisela Clemente, outreach coordinator from Slocomb Family HealthCenter, is trying to ease those fears one farm at a time. She joinseight workers taking a break at 150-acre Aplin Farms. After jokingwith the men and women in Spanish, she asks about their health andurges them to visit the nearby migrant clinic, where the staffspeaks Spanish and doesn't require proof of citizenship. "We have to go to them because they are afraid to come here to theclinic," says Clemente. MORE: View Kaiser's table on caring for migrant farmworkers PHOTOS: Migrant workers receive health care Such clinics, part of a 50-year-old federal program that treatsmigrant and seasonal farmworkers, have become flash points in thenational immigration debate. Local, state and federal law enforcement authorities have stakedout some migrant clinics, detained staff taking patients to medicalappointments and set up roadblocks near their facilities and healthfairs as part of immigration crackdowns, according to federalreports and interviews with clinic officials in Alabama, Arizona,Florida, Georgia, New York and North Carolina . "We are looking at a growing climate of fear where folks reallythink long and hard about accessing basic services," says MiltonButterworth, who oversees outreach migrant health services for BlueRidge Community Health Services in Hendersonville, N.C. Even many legal workers do not seek care at the health centersbecause they are fearful of exposing family members who are notlegal residents, says Tara Plese, a spokeswoman for the ArizonaAssociation of Community Health Centers. "It's a big concern from apublic health perspective." Those concerns include making sure farmworkers' children arevaccinated, stopping the spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS and treating those with chronic problems such as diabetes,officials say. Backers of the nation's 156 migrant clinics say caring for allfarmworkers is a humane way to treat 3 million people toiling atthe heart of the nation's food supply. About half are illegalimmigrants , according to the latest federal survey in 2009. Federal aid opposed Conservative groups say the federal government shouldn't pay forthose here illegally, except in emergency cases. "These people havea responsibility to take care of their own health needs," says IraMehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American ImmigrationReform, a group seeking stricter immigration laws. In 2010, the federal government spent $166 million to help care fornearly 900,000 migrant farmworkers, who pay on a sliding scale. Avisit in southeast Alabama averages $30. A report in November found that immigration enforcement fears keptworkers from getting care at centers in Alabama, Florida andGeorgia. "There have been credible reports of roadblocks and raids nearhealth clinics, giving farmworkers good reason to be afraid," saidthe report by the Florida Association of Community Health Centers.It said 82% of surveyed migrant providers indicated that in thepast year "there have been incidents of farmworkers or immigrantsin their area being arrested or intercepted in the process ofaccessing health care services." In December, a caseworker for Finger Lakes Migrant & CommunityHealth in Upstate New York was pulled over by federal border patrolagents while driving two farmworkers to a dentist. She washandcuffed, detained for several hours and accused of transportingillegal immigrants. The farmworkers were taken to a detentioncenter. The caseworker wasn't arrested, but the incident shook upthe staff, CEO Mary Zelazny says. Daniel Hiebert, U.S. Border Patrol deputy chief patrol agent in Buffalo, says the case was a "singleincident," and not part of a crackdown on care providers. But henotes that it is illegal to transport illegal immigrants, whetherknowingly or not. Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and CustomsEnforcement, denies that her agency targets clinics to find illegalimmigrants. Outreach is pivotal Since Alabama's law took effect in September (several provisionsare blocked pending court review), the Slocomb Family Center hasseen a change: The clinic's annual health fair at a local church inSeptember drew 74 people, down from 300 in previous years. "People feared immigration services would be there," says MelissaBradford of Southeast Alabama Rural Health Associates, which runsthe center. Maria Lopez , who has worked at Aplin Farms for several years, says the centerhelped treat her back pain and arthritis. "They are very good forme," she says. John Aplin, whose family owns Aplin Farms, says he welcomesoutreach staff because they help keep his workers healthy. Notingthat state troopers have set up nearby roadblocks, he adds: "Theysay they are looking for drugs, but we know who they are reallylooking for." Contributing: Kaiser Health News is an editorially independentprogram of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit,non-partisan health policy research and communication organizationnot affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Temperature Cutoff Switch , Motor Thermal Protector for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Snap Action Thermostat.
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