Now another 1,000 to 1,200 Americans have lost access to a qualified physician because a law-abiding doctor was pushed into detention for the “crime” of being born in the wrong country.
This is not an abstract immigration delay. Every detained or forced-out physician means higher costs to Americans, canceled clinics, delayed surgeries, longer wait times, and real patients losing care. Physician unemployment in the US is virtually zero, we have no hidden army of physicians hiding ready to replace them.
Thousands of long serving physicians inside the US healthcare system remain at risk.
Despite the news of an exemption, we are not aware of anyone being approved in the past three weeks.
Currently, physicians from 39 countries cannot get visa extensions, work permits, or green cards, even when their cases were previously approvable or already approved. Even if they are married to US citizen, have approved Einstein green card or committed 5 years for rural service or they are the best heart surgeon at Harvard or Mayo clinic.
Immigration delay is not neutral. It means falling out of status, losing employment, health insurance, driver license and becoming at risk of detention while waiting for an application that may never be adjudicated.
In other words, people are being rendered undocumented and stripped of their livelyhoods through no fault of their own, except having faith in the system.
That is why many affected physicians have already signed jobs elsewhere, left, or are preparing to leave for their home countries, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and other countries that recognize and value U.S. training and medical experience, rather than live through this state of uncertainty and terror.
A fine repayment and thank-you for years of service and for taking care of American lives in good faith. Worse access to care for the 97 million american living in rural and federally underserved areas.
#LiftTheHold #PhysiciansOnPause #FixUSCIS #HealthcareCrisis #ProtectPhysicians #LegalImmigrants #HealthcareAccess #DoctorShortage #PatientCare #StopThePause #ImmigrationReform #KeepDoctorsWorking #AmericanPatients #MedicalWorkforce #USHealthcare
Yesterday morning I was in a naturalization ceremony for a client who applied in Dec and is now a US citizen. Yesterday afternoon I was in a hearing with a client who applied for naturalization in October and is being refused an interview. The difference? Where they were born.
Legal immigrants are losing their jobs and their legal status not because THEY did anything wrong, but because the GOVERNMENT refuses to adjudicate the applications they paid for and filed. It should be a massive scandal.
Hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants find themselves in limbo, many losing their jobs and risking deportation, after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services refuses to process their cases. https://t.co/AKz9iBBPbB
Thank you @SenatorDurbin for raising your voice for US-trained physicians.
Please do the same for the Iranian scientists & engineers affected by the pause.
All four authors of the major TurboQuant paper are Iranian. Beautiful minds are potentially hit by the #USCISPause.
News: https://t.co/DEac9wmt4M
"Trump’s freeze on processing immigration applications from people born in certain countries, however, has halted this influx of talent. It has trapped thousands of legal immigrants in an indefinite bureaucratic limbo." - Ava Benach https://t.co/Pu3rgr4nnx
The U.S. became a global leader because it welcomed talent from ANYWHERE.
Today, thousands of highly skilled professionals from 39 countries are left in uncertainty under the #USCISPause
When opportunity depends on nationality instead of merit, everyone loses, including America.
All LEGAL Iranian immigrants in the US are under #USCISPause, which is freezing ALL the benefits for them. OPT-H1B-F2-J1-F1. PLEASE be our voice. Some lost jobs, some lost insurance, some became homeless, some are going hungry, families are torn apart. #LiftTheHold
رفتم قدم بزنم و داشتم فک میکردم که ‘خاک بر سر من، خاک بر سر ما’!
بین ای�� همه پرونده، کورتیس از همه رزومه بهتری داره. اومده با ۱٫۴۰۰ دلار میگه کلس اکشن فایل کنیم. در حالی که پرونده های دیگه mass action حدود ۲-۴ برابر این هزینه داره. خودش هم تخمین داده ۳-۵ ماه نتیجه میگیرم.
Immigration processes halted for legal immigrants from 39 countries and an entry ban imposed on 75 countries. Not exactly "anyone from anywhere"
#UscisPause#PressUnpause#LiftTheHold
Well, I mean…
If the original justification for USCIS pause was “country of birth” and “national security concerns”, then why are physicians now exempt while scientists, engineers, researchers, and other legal high-skilled applicants remain on hold?
That distinction does not logically add up.
Don’t you think Joe? @USCISJoe
Iranian STEM researchers and NIW applicants also undergo vetting and are often working in fields directly tied to U.S. innovation, healthcare, technology, and national competitiveness. @SecRubio you agree with the fact that Iranians are phenomenal people nothing like the IRGC regime
@SecMullinDHS Many of us have been stuck in limbo for months despite being fully legal, highly vetted, and actively contributing to American research institutions and industries.
A policy based on nationality should not SELECTIVELY disappear only for certain professions while continuing to harm other critical legal and high value contributors to the U.S. scientific and economic ecosystem.
This policy needs to be seriously attention and revision @SenSchumer@SenatorDurbin@SenGaryPeters@SenAlexPadilla@JudiciaryDems@JudiciaryGOP
#LiftTheHold
#ScientistsInLimbo
Recent updates indicate that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (@USCIS) has lifted the hold for physicians, regardless of their country of birth. However, the hold remains in place for other applicants, particularly those in #STEM fields applying through the National Interest Waiver (#NIW) category.
This distinction raises an important question about the underlying rationale. If national security concerns were the primary factor, one would expect consistent treatment across similarly vetted groups. Alternatively, the current policy may reflect workforce or sector-specific priorities.
If the latter is the case, it may be worth reconsidering whether NIW applicants—whose contributions and qualifications have already undergone rigorous evaluation by USCIS—should also be eligible for similar consideration.
A consistent and transparent approach could help ensure that the United States continues to benefit from highly skilled individuals across critical fields.
@CBSNews@FoxNews@NBCNews@usnews
#ScientistsInLimbo
In tandem with what many physicians have been reporting for days, POLITICO today independently confirmed the same reality from multiple sources:
The physician hold largely remains in effect operationally, and no clear implementation pathway appears to exist yet.
According to the report, affected physicians and attorneys continue to receive responses indicating cases remain on hold, field offices appear unaware of any exemption guidance, and physicians are still not seeing meaningful adjudications.
Meanwhile, hospitals continue facing disrupted staffing, cancelled procedures, and growing workforce strain as July 1 approaches.
Policy announcements alone do not stabilize healthcare systems. Operational execution does.
#LiftTheHold #USCISPause #PhysiciansOnPause #HealthcareWorkforce #PatientCare #PhysicianShortage #IMGs #HospitalStaffing #HealthcarePolicy #July1Transition #PM6020192 #Pam6020194
https://t.co/QfrKfimRa7
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وضعیت اقامت دانشجوهای ایرانی در امریکا اصلا خوب نیست. اگر به همین ترتیب پیش بره بیشترشون مجبور به برگشتن به ایران میشن. که بشدت خطرناکه.
ماهایی که دانشجو نیستیم باید بیشتر تلاش کنیم بتونیم کمکشون کنیم.
Thank you @SecRubio!
We respectfully request that @SecMullinDHS, & @USCIS #LiftTheHold on legal, secular Iranian STEM students, engineers, and scholars who entered US legally, pay taxes, & contribute to the American institutions where they are trained. Or at least accelerate the new vetting processes.
#USCISPause