Months before Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail, health policy reporter Amanda Seitz began investigating how immigration policies enacted during his first term had affected public health. She found a growing body of research showing that many immigrants avoided doctors’ visits during Trump’s presidency, often out of fear.
Seitz focused her reporting on Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, a region with the highest uninsured rates in the country. She spent months identifying sources who would speak on the record and eventually connected with a midwifery clinic in South Texas. After weeks of trust-building with the staff and patients, Seitz was granted access.
Photographer and bilingual journalist Jacquelyn Martin joined Seitz for the visit. Together, they overcame initial reluctance to tell a story shaped by personal, patient-centered experiences. Martin also produced a standalone photo essay with striking, intimate moments from inside the clinic and nearby homes, showing how immigration policy affects health outcomes in everyday life.
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