Brian Lair on WNYC, you know, when people come into the country seeking political asylum,

they're often dealing with intense physical and emotional injuries from, let's just say it, torture in their

countries of origin. And if those people are arriving in New York City, it's highly possible

that they'll be sent to the oldest public hospital in the country, Bellevue, which houses

something called the program for survivors of torture, or PSOT. The overwhelming majority of patients in this program are asylum seekers, so it caters to a particular set of needs,

documenting and treating injuries, connecting patients to social workers and lawyers, and providing mental health care, for example.

Now, earlier this year, NYC Health and Hospitals announced that it would close the

program in mid-May. Obviously, that's coming right up. One of the main reasons they cited for that

decision is that the program is federally funded, which means there's a possibility that the Trump

administration could eventually require the hospital to turn over patient data, including their

immigration status, as they seek to deport as many asylum seekers as possible in Trump's mass

deportation program. And again, the overwhelming majority of the program's patients are asylum

seekers with tenuous residency status often.

The city says that patients who would normally qualify for this program will still receive the treatment they need elsewhere at Bellevue, but a lot of longtime PSOT staffers

say that the particular set of resources that the program provides to victims of torture cannot

be replicated in a piecemeal way.

And of course, this is all happening amidst a backdrop of growing ice presence in New York City,

even though apparently Mayor Mammatian President Trump talk on the phone,

and across the country, even including at hospitals.

So we've got two guests with us today to talk about

Bellevue's program for survivors of torture. First, Dr. Alan Keller, who founded the program back in

1995 and has been pushing the city to reverse its decision. He's also associate professor of medicine and population

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