What is the relationship between immigration policy and public health? Why when two agencies pursuing different objectives, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services are required to cooperate, this may lead to arbitrary compromises that may undermine health outcomes? Why are Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries excluded from eligibility for publicly funded health insurance, including benefits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? What are the regulatory changes that we should implement in the USA so that the appropriate balance between immigration and public health policies is actually found? I highly enjoyed discussing these topical questions with Medha Makhlouf. Medha is an Assistant Professor of Law and the Founding Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Professor Makhlouf’s research interests lie at the intersection of health law, immigrants’ rights, and poverty law and policy. Her current work focuses on immigrant access to health care and the many ways in which immigration status functions as a social determinant of health.