In Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley, a community health center expanded its services to immigrant patients in their homes after realizing that people skipped major medical appointments because they became too scared of taking risks.

St. John Community Health, one of the largest nonprofit community health care providers in Los Angeles County, caters to low-income and working-class residents, launched a family visitation program in March after learning that patients lacked routine and urgent care appointments because of fears they would be accepted by U.S. immigration and customs law enforcement officers.

St. John's Cathedral serves through the area's clinics and mobile devices network, and it is estimated that at least 25,000 patients have no documents, about one-third of whom suffer from chronic diseases, including diabetes and high blood pressure, require routine tests. But these patients lack tests to monitor their blood sugar and blood pressure and make an appointment to get prescription supplements.

Earlier this year, the health center began investigating patients and found hundreds of people canceled their appointments “only because of fear of being arrested by ICE.”

President Trump entered his second term, pledging the biggest deportation effort in U.S. history, initially focusing his rhetoric on undocumented immigrants who committed violent crimes. But shortly after he took office, his government said it had considered anyone in the country without authorization.

In the months since then, the new government has adopted various strategies to sow the fears of immigrant communities. Department of Homeland Security has launched Advertising campaigns Unauthorized persons in the country are urged to leave or be deported. Immigration agents appear at home and in internal courts, looking for people in the United States without authorization. Immigrants in custody are increasingly driven away and deported to their home country, or in some cases, countries they have no contact with - no time to pack or family goodbye.

The Trump administration canceled a policy in January that once blocked sensitive locations, such as hospitals, churches and schools, from immigration-related arrests.

In response to the findings, St. John’s Fear-Free Program launched a health care program to attract patients who are afraid to leave their homes. St. John's Cathedral CEO and President Jim Mangia said in a statement that health care providers should enforce policies to ensure that all patients, regardless of immigration status, have access to care.

“Healthcare is a human right – we will not allow fear to be blocked,” he said.

Bukola Olusanya, a nurse and regional director of medical care at St. John's University, said a woman reported not leaving her home for three months. She said she knew other patients with chronic conditions did not leave their homes for exercise, which could exacerbate their illness. Even some immigrants in the law of the United States have expressed reservations, given that the government accuses people of crime and deport them without due process.

Olusania said that given the rate at which their condition will worsen, the risk of waiting for people to come back and go to medical care is too high. "It can be a complex problem, and it will give them a lifelong disability and they become more dependent, or they have to use more resources," she said. "So why not prevent this?"

On a Thursday in the recent Thursday at the St. John's Avalon Clinic in South Los Angeles, Olusania is preparing to head to the home of a patient who lives for about 30 minutes. The Avalon Clinic serves a large number of homeless patients and has a street team that often uses vans equipped with medical equipment. The van has proven useful for home visits.

Olusanya spent about 30 minutes preparing for a 3pm appointment, assembled the equipment to draw blood, collect urine samples and check the patient's vitality and glucose levels. She said she had undergone a physical examination in her bedroom and living room based on the patient's housing status and privacy.

She recalls the decline in patient visits when he also vowed to deport mass deportations in Trump’s first administration. At the time, staff at the exercise held by St. John were preparing for a potential federal attack and connecting artificial chains to block clinic entrances.

But this time, the fear was even more obvious, she said. "You feel it; it's very thick," she said.

While telemedicine is an option for some patients, many require in-person care. St. John sent a team of three to four employees to call, usually welcomed their relief and gratitude, which made it worth it, she said.

She said: "They are happy, for example, 'Oh my God, St. John can do this. I'm grateful.' "So that means a lot." ”