“They treat us like we are not human”: Asylum seekers and “la migra's” violence.

Abstract

Objective: Asylum seekers suffer cultural, structural, and direct violence in the United States. The direct violence perpetrated by immigration and law enforcement officers adds to the complex and prolonged impacts of the traumatic experiences that asylum seekers often encounter premigration, during migration, and postmigration. The focus of this qualitative study is to understand how asylum seekers experience apprehension and immigration detention. Method: Using testimonio research, the authors explore the oral accounts of seven Latinx asylum seekers who were in immigration detention between 2018 and 2020. A thematic analysis (TA) of participants’ testimonios included coding by a five-person team, checks for internal validity, and the generation of themes across participants. To ensure that researchers’ interpretation of the data accurately represented participants’ responses, independent coding was used and referenced with the larger research team to cross-validate each other’s interpretations and to explore possible distortions in our interpretation of the data. Reflexivity, documentation, and peer debriefing were used to monitor and reflect on potential biases related to researchers’ shared identities with participants. Modifications to the codebook were documented, including changes to codes, themes, and subthemes. Results: Four themes were found in this study: no compassion, detention violence, postdetention trauma and health concerns, and resilience. Under detention violence, four subthemes were found: physical violence, ethnoracial violence, emotional and psychological violence, and violence against children. Conclusion: Sharing participants’ experiences is vital to ensure that helping professionals’ advocacy, research, service, and clinical efforts reflect asylum seekers’ needs and lived experiences.

Testimonios in the mouth of the dragon: A call for Black liberation in psychology.

“…The second author's clinical practice is based on a Liberation Psychology model and she has received extensive training on qualitative research and TA. Most recently, we collaborated in one study that used testimonio research to explore the oral accounts of seven Latinx asylum seekers who were in immigration detention between 2018 and 2020 (Domínguez, Hernandez-Arriaga, et al, 2021). In that research study, we used the same methodology, framework, and analytic method as this present study.…”

Prevalence of physical violence against people in insecure migration status: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…b) Violence in custody. This includes violence experienced by migrants during arrest-which is often the result only of crossing a border or being present in a country with no status-during detention [22][23][24][25][26], and during removal [27,28]. This category also includes people in asylum reception centres who have made an asylum application or appealed an asylum decision and are awaiting the outcome of that application or appeal [24].…”

“…This includes violence experienced by migrants during arrest-which is often the result only of crossing a border or being present in a country with no status-during detention [22][23][24][25][26], and during removal [27,28]. This category also includes people in asylum reception centres who have made an asylum application or appealed an asylum decision and are awaiting the outcome of that application or appeal [24]. Due to the often-involuntary nature of asylum reception, people who are housed within asylum reception centres can be considered to be under the custody of the state [22][23][24][25][26].…”

Buscando la Calma Dentro de la Tormenta: A Brief Review of the Recent Literature on the Impact of Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Policies on Stress Among Latinx Immigrants

“…However, one qualitative study found that participants who were impacted by MPP received no compassion from border agents, and experienced various forms of violence (ie, physical, ethnoracial, emotional and psychological, and violence against children), post-detention trauma, and health concerns. 118 Another governmental policy based on enforcement negatively affecting Latinx immigrants is Title 42, which is a public health policy that authorizes the Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to suspend entry of individuals into the United States to protect public health. 119 This authority was implemented by the 45 th President in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for the quick expulsion of migrants, including asylum seekers.…”

“…However, one qualitative study found that participants who were impacted by MPP received no compassion from border agents, and experienced various forms of violence (ie, physical, ethnoracial, emotional and psychological, and violence against children), post-detention trauma, and health concerns. 118 …”