It’s Easy For Migrants To Get Sick; Harder To Get Treatment

Dr. Bert Johansson, an El Paso pediatrician, treats lesions on a migrant man’s foot at a makeshift clinic within a local shelter.

Monica Ortiz Uribe / NPR

Tucked in the corner of an old school gym, adults and children regularly line up in front of Dr. Bert Johansson. They are migrants, waiting for treatment at a pop-up clinic in El Paso, Texas.

The clinic doesn’t look like much — it’s no more than a circle of folding chairs around a table spread with medical supplies.

Yet, for migrants recently released from federal processing facilities, this clinic could mean the difference between life or death.