Gisselle Moreno

The Fear of Deportation among Mixed-Status Families

Immigration reform is a topic that is constantly being discussed in today’s society.  Under the Trump administration, anti-immigrant executive orders have been created and the presence of ICE has increased in many communities. The presence of ICE in communities has caused fear of family separation and deportation. Many families have taken precaution and limited themselves from being in the public, especially mixed-status families. Mixed Status families are families that have one or more family member that are undocumented. According to Mathema (2017), about 12 percent (4.7 million) of California’s population live in a mixed-status household, where 42% (2 million) are children under the age of 18. The community I choose to target is the Los Angeles Area because I have family and friends that live in different parts of the city that are living in fear of separation. According to Passel and Cohn (2019), there are about more than 925,000 undocumented immigrants living in Los Angeles alone.

The fear of family separation among mixed-status families has caused mental health issues, such as anxiety. Many undocumented immigrants experience different stressors while living in the U.S., such as fear of deportation, racism, distrust in the local government, and language barriers. According to Roche et al. (2018), children are more vulnerable to anxiety and depression if their parents are undocumented. This is due to the fact that parents are often stressed out from the fear of deportation, which they can take into the home environment. Children begin to recognize their parent’s behavior and mood but cannot do much to help their parents. As for individuals that are undocumented, they deal with emotional challenges of their own. According to Vaquera (2017), undocumented young adults who recognize their undocumented status and their limitations of being in the U.S. can impact their self-esteem, occupation, and education. Many undocumented young adults cannot continue their education after the age of 18 because they do not have the proper documents (e.g. SSN) or financial resources to attend college. In addition, undocumented young adults cannot get a job without a social security number, which will lead to them feeling excluded. Eventually, it will lead to chronic anxiety and depression because they will begin to lose hope. Since individuals do not have citizenship, they cannot get the health resources or medical treatment needed to help their mental health. Thus, families are left to deal with their mental health issues alone, which can eventually become worse if they do not receive proper treatment.

Instead of degrading immigrant families, we as a community should support them. The possible ways to support them would be by advocating for immigrants and voting for legislation that supports immigration reform. Also, we can create organizations that help immigrant families to provide them with legal and health resources. This will help alleviate the stress on the mixed status-families because they will feel a sense of support from the community.

Personal Importance

I am a part of a Mixed-Status family. My older brother was originally born in Mexico. He is currently living in the United States under DACA. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a policy that grants undocumented individuals with work permits and protection from deportation. However, when DACA did not exist, I always feared that my brother be taken away every time he left. I never wanted to imagine how my life would be without him because I would just get anxious of thinking of him living in another country where he did not grow up in. I believe that policies similar to DACA have helped mixed-status families because individuals are protected by the law to reside in the United States. I believe that there should be a pathway to citizenship to those under DACA or for undocumented individuals who have family members that are documented. The current immigration laws are broken and there needs to be stable policies keeps families together. 

Community Members' Statements

Yessi (19)

"I often fear when my parents go to work that they will not come back. I think about all the different possibilities and it is scary to think they could be taken away at any moment. I wish I could get them their citizenship but there is no stable law that allows that."

Daisy (20) 

"I am a DACA recipient and I am scared of the current political landscape. It can be scary that we can be stripped from DACA if the government choose to end it. I try to not stress about it, but I hope one day there will be an immigration reform. I hope that everyone will vote wisely in the next election."

Diana (19) 

"I have younger siblings and I have to take them most places. Especially now, since there has been a presence of ICE in LA and my parents do not want to risk it. My family and I try to limit ourselves from traveling to far from our home because we never know where they could be at. However, I am hopeful that one day my family and I can live without the fear of deportation."

References

Mathema, S. (2017). Keeping families together. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2017/03/16/428335/keeping-families-together/

Passel, J. S., & Cohn, D. (2019). Most U.S. unauthorized immigrants live in just 20 metro areas. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/03/11/us-metro-areas-unauthorized-immigrants/

Roche, K., et al. (2018). Impacts of Immigration Actions and News and the Psychological Distress of U.S. Latino Parents Raising Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(5), 525-531.

Vaquera, E. (2017). Emotional challenges of undocumented young adults: Ontological security, emotional capital, and well-being. Social Problems, 64(2), 298-314.