Medical Groups Call for Release of Detained Doctor

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA) are calling for the release of a South Texas doctor who was detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a statement, the organizations said they were deeply concerned about the detention of Rubeliz Bolivar, MD, an emergency medicine resident at South Texas Health System in McAllen, Texas, and an ACEP member.

Bolivar, who is from Venezuela, holds a valid work permit and has lived in the U.S. for a decade, the organizations said. However, she was detained by DHS while traveling with her 5-year-old daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, to a previously scheduled asylum interview.

“Dr. Bolivar followed our laws, obtained valid work authorization, and dedicated herself to caring for patients in one of the most underserved regions in the country,” ACEP president L. Anthony Cirillo, MD, said in the statement. “Detaining physicians who are here legally and serving communities in need of vital emergency care is not targeted enforcement. It is a threat to the health of the American people, and it must stop.”

Every shift Bolivar misses is “care delayed for patients in crisis,” EMRA President Pauline Wiltz, DO, said in the statement. “Every moment in detention, her child is kept from the safety she deserves. This isn’t just policy, these are people. It’s a family. It’s a physician our communities need and depend on.”

South Texas Health System declined to comment on the matter, noting that due to privacy reasons, the health system is not at liberty to discuss personnel matters.

A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in an email to MedPage Today that Bolivar had been taken into custody at McAllen Airport on April 11 after overstaying her visa since 2017, and that she had chosen to place her child in the care of a relative in the area.

Bolivar is the second physician detained in the Rio Grande Valley in less than a week. On Monday, April 6, Venezuelan-born family medicine physician Ezequiel Veliz, MD, was detained, despite explaining to agents that he was trying to obtain a new visa, according to the New York Times.

“Physicians and medical trainees are indispensable to the nation’s healthcare infrastructure,” the American Academy of Family Physicians told MedPage Today in an emailed statement. “We urge the departments [of State and Homeland Security] to act swiftly to implement targeted, lawful relief that recognizes the national interest in ensuring that qualified physicians can enter, remain, and continue serving patients in the U.S. without unnecessary delay.”

The detentions appear to be tied to a Trump administration freeze on visa extensions, work permits, and green cards for citizens of 39 countries and those with Palestinian Authority travel documents that took effect in January. It is estimated to impact hundreds of doctors, and to hit rural areas the hardest.

In late February, AMA President John Whyte, MD, sent a letter to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, urging an exemption from the policy for physicians. More than 20 medical organizations, including ACEP and AAFP, did the same earlier this month, noting that the policy is “forcing physicians to abandon residency programs and leaving already strained communities without access to care.”