Solidarity with Immigrants with Dr. Rachel Fabi

Bioethics in the Margins

Our first ever repeat guest is Rachel Fabi, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University. She is a Faculty Research Affiliate at the Syracuse University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion. She received her Ph.D. in Health Policy and Management, in the Bioethics and Health Policy track, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and served as the 2019-2021 National Academy of Medicine Greenwall Fellow in Bioethics. Dr. Fabi had previously joined us in September of 2023, on Season 5 Episode 2 of Bioethics in the Margins. She joins again today to discuss the timely topic of the effect of recent Executive Orders rescinding the 2021 guidance designating schools, churches and healthcare institutions as "safe zones" exempt from immigration enforcement. Dr. Fabi outlines specific strategies that institutions can adopt to protect students and patients, particularly designating areas clearly as private spaces, which require a judicial warrant for ICE agents to enter. She highlights the importance of proactive planning on the part of institutions. Kirk, Amelia and Dr. Fabi reflect on our moral obligations towards immigrants as a society and the specific obligations of ethicists in practice and discuss the importance of immigrant communities to the fabric of our society. Several resources that were mentioned in the episode are linked below:

1. Toolkit for healthcare institutions curated by Mark Kuczewski

2. Link to “red cards” to inform people of their rights

3. Immigration Policy Tracking Project

4. The Health of Newcomers by Patricia Illingworth and Wendy E. Parmet