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Contents
- Abstract
- Policies and Enforcements Aimed at Unauthorized Migrants
- Demographic Profiles of Unauthorized Migrants, Deportees, and Their Children
- Policies Contributing to Deportations
- Unauthorized Migrants and Their Children: A Population at Risk and Under Stress
- Social Ecological Perspective
- Risk and Stress Perspective
- Research Documenting Effects of Parental Status on Child Development
- Research Findings on Welfare of Children and Adults During the Detention Process
- Violations of Rights
- Research Documenting the Psychological Impact of Detention
- Untenable Decisions
- Research Findings on the Short- and Long-Term Impact of Parental Detention and Deportation on Children and Families
- The Trauma of Sudden and Imposed Family Separation
- Financial, Health, and Psychological Consequences for the Deported Individual
- Changes in Family Structure and Stability
- Economic Costs for Families
- Consequences for the “De Facto” Deportees
- Impact on the Broader Community
- Thinking Critically and Creatively About Policy Changes
- Recent Legislative Efforts
- Ideas From Activists and Scholars for Protecting Children and Families
- Listening to Children’s Voices
Abstract
Approximately 4.5 million U.S. citizen children live in mixed-status families, in which at least 1 family member is an unauthorized migrant and therefore vulnerable to detention and deportation from the United States (Passel & Cohn, 2011). This article critically examines the current state of the literature on the psychosocial consequences of detention and deportation for unauthorized migrants, mixed-status families, and their U.S.-born children. In particular, drawing on social and psychological theory and research, we (a) review the impact of parents’ unauthorized status on children; (b) summarize the literature on the impact of detention processes on psychosocial well-being; (c) describe the dilemma faced by a mixed-status family when a parent faces deportation; (d) examine the current social scientific literature on how parental deportation impacts children and their families; and (e) summarize several policy recommendations for protecting children and families.
Julia, [ 1 ] a Guatemalan indigenous Mayan woman, was detained in a raid at a Massachusetts factory where she was manufacturing backpacks for U.S. soldiers in Iraq (Brabeck, Lykes, & Hershberg, 2011). Julia’s 2-year-old son was with a babysitter when his mother was detained; he was waiting by the windowsill, as was his habit, for his mother on the day she did not return from work. Julia was transported to a Texas detention center. She was...