Health Implications of an Immigration Raid: Findings from a Latino Community in the Midwestern United States

Abstract

Immigration raids exemplify the reach of immigration law enforcement into the lives of Latino community members, yet little research characterizes the health effects of these raids. We examined the health implications of an immigration raid that resulted in multiple arrests and deportations and occurred midway through a community survey of a Latino population. We used linear regression following principal axis factoring to examine the influence of raid timing on immigration enforcement stress and self-rated health. We controlled for age, sex, relationship status, years in the county in which the raid occurred, children in the home, and nativity. 325 participants completed the survey before the raid and 151 after. Completing the survey after the raid was associated with higher levels of immigration enforcement stress and lower self-rated health scores. Findings indicate the negative impact of immigration raids on Latino communities. Immigration discussions should include holistic assessments of health.

Local-Level Immigration Enforcement and Food Insecurity Risk among Hispanic Immigrant Families with Children: National-Level Evidence

“…Research indicates that unauthorized immigrants’ heightened sense of “deportability” makes them fearful of the community and distrustful of public agencies. [3, 13, 15–18] As a result, although US-born children in unauthorized immigrant families are eligible for food stamps and other social services, they are often confused about eligibility and fearful that applying for benefits could cause deportation,[19] particularly in areas with heightened immigration enforcement. [14, 18, 20, 21]…”

“…Third, fears of deportation, family separation, and police harassment also decrease unauthorized immigrants’ mobility and increase their social isolation and emotional distress[18, 22, 23]—all of which have implications for food insecurity. Qualitative evidence, indicates that to avoid police immigrants often refrain from driving, which could alter food consumption patterns as families rely more on fast-food and high-priced, walking-distance grocery stores.…”

“…[10, 23] Additionally, constant worry about family separation leads to social isolation and strains social ties as unauthorized immigrants avoid public places, including churches and schools, which may provide food supports. [13, 24] Social isolation and worry about deportation also exacerbate parental distress, depression and anxiety[18, 25]—known risk factors for food insecurity. [7, 8]…”

An Introduction and Commentary

“…It is interesting that most individuals whose files were processed through the program had minor infractions (Kohli and Chavez 2013), and many Secure Communities enforcement efforts were correlated with the size of the Latino population in an area rather than crime (Cox and Miles 2013;Sampaio 2015). Although we have a limited understanding of immigration-policy enforcement on Latinos' health and access to healthcare, we know that immigration raids can negatively affect the emotional and physical health of immigrants and that local immigration-enforcement policies can decrease the likelihood that Latino immigrants will use health services (Lopez et al 2017;Watson et al 2014 (Bean, Brown, and Rumbaut 2006;Fraga and Segura 2006;Khalid 2016;Sanchez 2015). April 2018 279 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ like me" are more likely to be stopped, apprehended, or incarcerated by the police were less likely to report positive physical health.…”

Restrictive ID Policies: Implications for Health Equity

“…The early twenty-first century has been characterized by several federal-, state-, and local-level restrictive immigration policies and practices, such as collaboration between federal immigration enforcement agencies and local law enforcement agencies, immigration raids, and state-level policies such as Arizona’s SB 1070 that criminalize the failure to present immigration documents [24–27]. A growing evidence base links restrictive immigration policies with racialized stressors [7, 28–30], restricted access to health-promoting resources [7, 20, 29–33], and adverse health outcomes [28, 34] for immigrant and US-born Latinos, the racial group that has been disproportionately burdened by restrictive immigration policies [26, 35]. …”