Uninsured Immigrants

To many undocumented immigrant’s health care is not a pressing concern. People emigrate to America in pursuit of the American dream of freedom and prosperity. According to Gilcrist (2013), an estimated $35 million people are foreign-born currently living in the United Sates, and out of that, over $10 million are undocumented and are, most likely, not insured. These undocumented individuals work in our food industry and on our agricultural farms, where the susceptibility of transferring disease increases, due their proximity to food and humans, which can easily be communicable to those that are touching or ingesting the food that they have harvested, cooked and/or served to them. Under Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Attorney General is not permitted to allow aliens into the country if they are afflicted with certain mental or physical conditions including “dangerous and contagious diseases,” defects, or disabilities that may affect their ability to earn a living” (Gilcrist,
Uninsured immigrants pose an alarming threat to public health, because these individuals enter the country without inspection, which includes a physical that states that they are healthy and free from dangerous, communicable