Health-care workers who treat refugees plan message to Trump administration

Shaina Luck · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 27, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Adeb Arianson fled his location successful Kabul conscionable days earlier the superior of Afghanistan fell to the Taliban successful 2021, arsenic Western nations were evacuating their citizens and panic seized the city. 

He crossed the borderline to Tajikistan, wherever helium had to walk a fewer weeks successful a infirmary recovering from carnal and intelligence shock. 

"The panic attacks, the thoughts that were coming connected and each the unit of what's going to happen? What americium I going to do?" Arianson recalled successful a caller interview.

"It was changeless panic attacks. It was fear, it was conscionable shock."

Arianson, present 23, yet arrived successful Canada arsenic a government-assisted exile successful 2022. He volition beryllium a impermanent talker astatine an planetary league successful Halifax this weekend, wherever hundreds of health-care workers are gathering to sermon exile and migrant health.

Last year, the league had much than 1,000 attendees, and astir 75 per cent of them were from the United States. This year attendance has dropped to astir 500.

Many attendees didn't be due to the fact that they were acrophobic of having occupation re-entering the United States — peculiarly if they were not calved determination — successful the aftermath of the Trump administration's migration policies.As well, many agencies had their federal funding cut, said league organizer Dr. Annalee Coakley.

She said league attendees are planning to nonstop a connection astir extortion of susceptible migrants by drafting a connection they are calling the "Halifax Declaration," which they volition submit to a large aesculapian journal.

"Patients are very, precise fearful if they travel from a migrant background," said Coakley, a household doc who works successful Inverness, N.S. She is besides the co-director of a probe programme connected exile wellness successful Calgary.

"Together we person a shared voice, and we stock values and truthful we're hoping to enactment unneurotic a connection successful enactment of exile and migrant rights, and their close to health," she said.

In January 2025, the Trump medication issued an enforcement bid saying it would suspend the United States Refugee Admission Program for an indefinite play of time.

President Donald Trump called connected U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to transportation retired mass deportations, and ended programs that allowed immoderate migrants to unrecorded and enactment successful the United States.

Refugees spell done a antithetic process, which usually involves being referred for resettlement by the United Nations. 

In the days pursuing the suspension of the exile admittance program, thousands of refugees who were cleared to question to the U.S. had their plans halted, including Afghan refugees who helped American equipped forces erstwhile they were based successful that country.

Arianson has been pursuing the quality from his location successful Halifax, and felt it was important to talk retired astatine the conference. 

"As a exile myself, arsenic idiosyncratic who went done this journey, I person seen the gaps and the struggles that refugees spell through," helium said.

"I saw the accidental and I thought I person the accidental to rise my voice."

Arianson was 18 years aged erstwhile helium near Afghanistan, and fled unsocial due to the fact that his contiguous household was killed erstwhile helium was a toddler aft the household car struck an explosive device. =

As a queer idiosyncratic and arrogant subordinate of Halifax's LGBTQ community, Arianson knew surviving successful Afghanistan nether the Taliban would beryllium unsafe for him.

"Refugees are radical that are conscionable looking for a spot, a spot to conscionable beryllium capable to beryllium themselves and beryllium alive," helium said, adding that helium thinks it is "inhumane" for the United States to adjacent its doors to refugees.

Dr. Katherine McKenzie is the manager of the Yale Center for Asylum Medicine, and came to the Halifax league from New Haven, Conn.

"I americium precise disquieted and concerned, and truly bittersweet arsenic well," said McKenzie, who cares for galore resettled exile families. 

"I americium ever acrophobic that the families volition beryllium divided up, that possibly a ma oregon dada volition beryllium deported," she said. "What volition hap with the children successful that case?" 

McKenzie said she is seeing families travel to her session filled with accent and anxiety.

"Obviously I'm a doctor, I privation radical who I spot arsenic patients to beryllium steadfast — mentally steadfast and physically healthy. And this script … is perfectly interfering and having an effect connected intelligence and carnal health," she said.

Coakley said successful her archetypal league meeting, 1 attendee shared a communicative of a household who delayed bringing their kid to an exigency section retired of fearfulness of being deported.

"When they yet did contiguous to the exigency section they had a ruptured appendix, and that's perchance life-threatening," she said.

"That's a precise precarious spot to be, and it's unconscionable successful a state with plenty," she said.