Exploring the Effects of U.S. Immigration enforcement on the well-being of citizen children in Mexican immigrant families
Open accessAbstract
In this article, we draw on ecocultural theories of risk and resilience to examine qualitatively the experiences of U.S. citizen-children living with their undocumented Mexican parents. Of central importance is the fact that citizen-children's daily lives are organized around the very real possibility that their undocumented parents could one day be detained and deported. Our purpose is to render visible the various ways in which citizen-children confront and navigate the possibilities-and realities-of parental deportation. We develop a framework to conceptualize the complex multidimensional, and often multidirectional, factors experienced by citizen-children vulnerable to or directly facing parental deportation. We situate youth well-being against a backdrop of multiple factors to understand how indirect and direct encounters with immigration enforcement, the mixed-status family niche, and access to resources shape differential child outcomes. In doing so, we offer insights into how different factors potentially contribute to resilience in the face of adversity.
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Community level stigma toward migrants may adversely impact individuals' mental health.
“Community level stigma toward migrants may also adversely impact individuals' mental health (37, 55).”
From Deported Men's and Father's Perspective: The Impacts of Family Separation on Children and Families in the U.S. (2020) · cites this paper as [37]
The Results (Child Outcomes; page unavailable) describe racism and exclusion in school and community settings as disempowering for citizen-children in Mexican immigrant families. The Discussion (page unavailable) links a related cultural script of silence to emotional and mental distress. The paper does not directly establish that community-level stigma harms migrants’ mental health generally. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredRecent studies have shown that both a parent's unauthorized status and a deportation event can negatively impact the quality of life of U.S. citizen-children.
“Recent studies have shown that both a parent's unauthorized status (36, 37) and deportation event can negatively impact the quality of life of U.S. citizen-children (38–42).”
From Deported Men's and Father's Perspective: The Impacts of Family Separation on Children and Families in the U.S. (2020) · cites this paper as [37]
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Ojeda, V. D., Magana, C., Burgos, J. L., & Vargas-Ojeda, A. C. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00148 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“Recent studies have shown that both a parent’s unauthorized status (36, 37) and deportation event can negatively impact the quality of life of U.”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Gulbas, L. E., & Zayas, L. H.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Venue
- RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
- Publisher
- Russell Sage Foundation
- Published
- 2017
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 53
- ISSN
- 2377-8253 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6139667
- OpenAlex
- W2736222640
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 7.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- RSF The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21HD068874)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Refugees, and Integration
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Keywords
- immigration enforcement, Mexican immigrant families, parental deportation, mixed-status families, youth well-being, resilience, risk and resilience, ecocultural theory, deportation risk
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