Social exclusion at the intersections of immigration, employment, and healthcare policy: A qualitative study of Mexican and Chinese immigrants in California

The legacy of immigration policies and employment exclusion: Assessing the relationship between employment exclusions and immigrant health

“…First, in the face of employment challenges, immigrants must adapt to labor markets to achieve economic self-sufficiency ( Gurrola & Ayon, 2018 ; Kim et al, 2023 ). When immigrants are unable to find work in their professional fields or their initial work options are not available, they are likely able to find work elsewhere ( Nakphong et al, 2022 ; Hall et al, 2019 ). Another reason we might not see an association is because immigrants are often able to draw upon resources and leverage family ties and social capital to access social and economic resources that protect their health ( Gilbert et al, 2013 ).…”

“…This continues to be observed today as occupational trajectories, labor practices, and work conditions reflect the policies in place. In particular, restrictive immigration policies create employment exclusions by explicitly barring immigrants from employment and work opportunities (e.g., work authorization) and limiting their workplace protections (e.g., safety protections) ( Nakphong et al, 2022 ). This paper examines the health consequences associated with experiences of employment exclusion among California immigrants that are influenced by policies that constitute the US immigration system.…”

Immigration and the Life Course: Contextualizing and Understanding Healthcare Access and Health of Older Adult Immigrants

“…Using immigrants’ country of origin allowed us to triangulate how historical events, immigration pathways, and policies could underlie disparities in health and healthcare access today. Although this work examined one aspect of the life course perspective (i.e., history), future work can be done to better contextualize the health of older adult immigrants through qualitative interviews, combining health data with immigration and policy data ( Dondero & Altman, 2020 ; Young et al, 2019 ), or designing studies examining the effects of immigration policy across the life course ( Nakphong et al, 2022 ).…”

Exploration of Social Exclusion among Older Chinese Immigrants in the USA

“…To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted on what factors contribute to older Chinese immigrants' social exclusion experience. Older Chinese immigrants generally experience high levels of resource deprivation, low levels of acculturation, increased language barriers, and elevated social isolation, compared to other ethnic-minority older adults in the U.S. [27,40]. They also experience some discrepancy between expectation and receipt of filial piety and family support from adult children in the process of immigration [27,41].…”