Continuing our discussion regarding the crisis of unaccompanied minors, the UN has produced an excellent report worth reading. The report highlights the top countries from which the youth are coming (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico), as well as the top reasons for their leaving home. These reasons include societal violence, abuse at home, deprivation, and familial connections and opportunities in the U.S. The consistent experience of human sexual trafficking experienced by these youth is stunning and disheartening. What is highlighted clearly in the report is the obligation of the U.S. to provide assistance to youth who come from nations unwilling or unable to provide basic human protections.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an important discussion on the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in medical care. This an important article, since the field of medicine has been relatively slow in acknowledging the importance of being able to provide quality healthcare to all patients. The guidelines are multifactorial, and address (1) government, leadership, and workforce guidelines, (2) communication and language assistance, and (3) ongoing evaluation and accountability efforts. One limitation of the guidelines is the primary focus on language issues, which, while important, do not account for all of the health and health care disparities that exist in the U.S. Nevertheless, we should recognize the continued advancement of the recognition of the responsibility of healthcare systems and providers to work to make health care inclusive to all.
The Washington Post just published an interesting map detailing the changes in US immigration patterns in the past 100 years. Breaking it down by state, the maps show how the Mexican immigrant population has become the largest immigrant population in most of the states in the U.S. When taking into account Cuban immigrants in Florida, Dominican immigrants in NY and Rhode Island, and Salvadoran immigrants in Maryland and Virginia, Latinos as a whole represent the largest immigrant group in 39 of the 50 states.