AONL Supports Supreme Court DACA Ruling

AONL joins numerous health care organizations in praising the Supreme Court decision to bar the Trump administration from proceeding with its plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In May, AONL joined other organizations in signing a letter to Vice President Pence and congressional leaders, asking them to take regulatory or legislative action to maintain work authorization for DACA individuals during the COVID-19 national emergency. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, nearly 30,000 health care workers are DACA participants. Many of these workers are located in Arizona, California and Texas where COVID-19 cases are on the rise. Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, noted DACA individuals have provided vital patient care during the crisis, adding, “We are pleased that the Supreme Court has recognized that upholding a rollback of the DACA program would have reduced our nation's health care capacity at a time when we can ill afford it." (Advisory Board story, 6/19/20)