scholarly journals Compounded Vulnerability: The Consequences of Immigration Detention for Institutional Attachment and System Avoidance in Mixed-Immigration-Status Families

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Patler ◽  
Gabriela Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Extensive Body ◽  
Immigration And Customs Enforcement ◽  
Institutional Attachment ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status

While an extensive body of literature has analyzed the spillover and intergenerational consequences of mass incarceration, fewer studies explore the consequences of a parallel system: mass immigration detention. Every year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement imprisons hundreds of thousands of noncitizens as they await adjudication on their deportation proceedings, sometimes for months or years at a time. Many detained individuals have lived in the United States for decades and have spouses and/or dependent children that rely on them. This analysis brings together research on immigrant families, mass incarceration, and system avoidance to examine the spillover consequences of immigration detention. Using a multigenerational and multi-perspective research design, we analyze 104 interviews conducted in California with detained parents, non-detained spouses/partners, and their school-age children. Findings suggest that members of these mixed-status families may limit their engagement with surveilling institutions during a family member’s detention. These experiences are rooted in what we call compounded vulnerability—that is, both in the experience of parental/spousal confinement but also in their positionality as members of mixed-immigration-status families facing the possibility of deportation.

scholarly journals Compounded Vulnerability: The Consequences of Immigration Detention for Institutional Attachment and System Avoidance in Mixed-Immigration-Status Families

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Patler ◽  
Gabriela Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Extensive Body ◽  
Immigration And Customs Enforcement ◽  
Institutional Attachment ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status

Abstract While an extensive body of literature has analyzed the spillover and intergenerational consequences of mass incarceration, fewer studies explore the consequences of a parallel system: mass immigration detention. Every year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement imprisons hundreds of thousands of noncitizens as they await adjudication on their deportation proceedings, sometimes for months or years at a time. Many detained individuals have lived in the United States for decades and have spouses and/or dependent children that rely on them. This analysis brings together research on immigrant families, mass incarceration, and system avoidance to examine the spillover consequences of immigration detention. Using a multigenerational and multi-perspective research design, we analyze 104 interviews conducted in California with detained parents, non-detained spouses/partners, and their school-age children. Findings suggest that members of these mixed-status families may limit their engagement with surveilling institutions during a family member’s detention. These experiences are rooted in what we call compounded vulnerability—that is, both in the experience of parental/spousal confinement but also as members of mixed-immigration-status families facing the possibility of deportation.

The Educational Consequences of Parental Immigration Detention

2020 ◽  
pp. 073112142093774
Author(s):  
Gabriela Gonzalez ◽  
Caitlin Patler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Parental Incarceration ◽  
Immigrant Integration ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Academic Trajectories ◽  
Immigration And Customs Enforcement

Every year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement imprisons hundreds of thousands of noncitizens as they await adjudication on their deportation proceedings. Importantly, many detained individuals have lived in the interior of the country for many years and are parents of young, dependent, school-age children living in the United States. This analysis brings together and builds upon research on parental incarceration and international migration. We analyze 104 multigenerational interviews conducted in California with detained parents, their current or former nondetained spouses/partners, and the school-age children they share. Our findings suggest that children’s academic trajectories are seriously disrupted by the trauma, stigma, and strain of parental imprisonment. Moreover, these vulnerabilities are enhanced in unique ways by children’s positionality as members of mixed-immigration-status families facing the possibility of deportation. Our findings suggest that parental immigration detention can have intergenerational consequences for children’s mobility that disrupt traditional pathways of immigrant integration in mixed-immigration-status families.

Stratification by Immigration Status

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heide Castañeda
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
Ripple Effects ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status

Heide Castañeda’s chapter highlights the fact that immigrant groups in the United States are not monolithic, but instead stratified by many chaotic bureaucratic categories. Using three case studies derived from longitudinal research in Texas, this chapter illustrates the unanticipated and contradictory effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by examining how immigration categories influenced eligibility and participation. The ACA explicitly excluded more than 11 million undocumented immigrants from coverage and distinguished between “qualified” and “non-qualified” immigrants among those who were considered “lawfully present.” This chapter illustrates the impacts of these exclusions and inclusions. We see how these distinctions produced ripple effects on U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families. In addition, the exclusion of youth holding deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) status—produced through an unusual case of administrative rollback—created a new pattern of formal disenfranchisement, while a loophole allowed some immigrants to qualify for insurance subsidies that U.S. citizens living in the same state could not.

scholarly journals US Immigration Policy and the Case for Family Unity

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoya Gubernskaya ◽  
Joanna Dreby
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Separation ◽  
The Us ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status ◽  
Family Unity

As the Trump administration contemplates immigration reform, it is important to better understand what works and what does not in the current system. This paper reviews and critically evaluates the principle of family unity, a hallmark of US immigration policy over the past 50 years and the most important mechanism for immigration to the United States. Since 1965, the United States has been admitting a relatively high proportion of family-based migrants and allowing for the immigration of a broader range of family members. However, restrictive annual quotas have resulted in a long line of prospective immigrants waiting outside of the United States or within the United States, but without status. Further policy changes have led to an increasing number of undocumented migrants and mixed-status families in the United States. Several policies and practices contribute to prolonged periods of family separation by restricting travel and effectively locking in a large number of people either inside or outside of the United States. On top of that, increasingly aggressive enforcement practices undermine family unity of a large number of undocumented and mixed-status families. Deportations — and even a fear of deportation —cause severe psychological distress and often leave US-born children of undocumented parents without economic and social support. A recent comprehensive report concluded that immigration has overall positive impact on the US economy, suggesting that a predominantly family-based migration system carries net economic benefits. Immigrants rely on family networks for employment, housing, transportation, informal financial services, schooling, childcare, and old age care. In the US context where there is nearly no federal support for immigrants' integration and limited welfare policies, family unity is critical for promoting immigrant integration, social and economic well-being, and intergenerational mobility. Given the benefits of family unity in the US immigrant context and the significant negative consequences of family separation, the United States would do well to make a number of changes to current policy and practice that reaffirm its commitment to family unity. Reducing wait times for family reunification with spouses and children of lawful permanent residents, allowing prospective family-based migrants to visit their relatives in the United States while their applications are being processed, and providing relief from deportation and a path to legalization to parents and spouses of US citizens should be prioritized. The cost to implement these measures would likely be minor compared to current and projected spending on immigration enforcement and it would be more than offset by the improved health and well-being of American families.

Under the Cloud of Deportation Threat: Testimonios Reveal Impact on Mixed-Status Families

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Green
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Separation ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
Human Side ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status ◽  
Anxiety And Fear

Stress associated with the threat of deportation is not a new facet of daily life for undocumented immigrants in the United States. An upsurge in antiimmigrant rhetoric and policy has contributed to ever-present anxiety and fear regarding apprehension, detention, and deportation. In this qualitative study of mixed-status immigrant families, the stories (testimonios) of parents and young adult recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are explored. Their testimonios reveal conflicted feelings about life in America and the relentless strain of living with fear and uncertainty. A portrait emerges of life in small-town America during these troublesome times of mass deportations and family separation. The testimonios, explored through a LatCrit lens, reveal the human side of immigration policy and compel us to contemplate the lived reality of immigrant families with American dreams.

The Unlikelihood of Family: A Photographic Essay on Transnational Experiences

2015 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Llerena Navarro
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Photographic Essay ◽  
Photo Essay ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status ◽  
Better Than

In this photo essay, Cristina Llerena Navarro captures moments in the everyday lives of mixed-status families. Through her narrative and images, Llerena shares the stories of these families, their journeys to the United States as well as the consequences of deportation on the family unity. She evokes the children's deep yearning to be reunited with their families on American soil, the parents' determination to provide their children with lives better than their own, and the realities of current immigration policy in preventing the fulfillment of these dreams.

Awakened Hatred and Heightened Fears: “The Trump Effect” on the Lives of Mixed-Status Families

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Kenny Nienhusser ◽  
Toko Oshio
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
The United States ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Daily Survival ◽  
Political Landscapes ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status

The rise of the Trump regime has sparked xenophobic sentiments directed toward and heightened fears experienced by mixed-status immigrant families living in the United States. Using the Southern Poverty Law Center’s concept of “The Trump Effect”—how the election of Donald Trump has had a damaging impact on undocumented immigrants—the researchers reveal how the lives of 12 mixed-status families (16 youth and 16 of their parents/guardians) have been transformed. Implications of this investigation are significant given the current social and political landscapes and continual fear mixed-status families undergo in their plight for daily survival.

scholarly journals The Impact of COVID-19 on Immigration Detention

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatma E. Marouf
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Public Health Authority ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Immigration And Customs Enforcement ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Detention Facilities ◽  
United States Code

COVID-19 has spread quickly through immigration detention facilities in the United States. As of December 2, 2020, there have been over 7,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases among detained noncitizens. This Article examines why COVID-19 spread rapidly in immigration detention facilities, how it has transformed detention and deportation proceedings, and what can be done to improve the situation for detained noncitizens. Part I identifies key factors that contributed to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in immigration detention. While these factors are not an exhaustive list, they highlight important weaknesses in the immigration detention system. Part II then examines how the pandemic changed the size of the population in detention, the length of detention, and the nature of removal proceedings. In Part III, the Article offers recommendations for mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on detained noncitizens. These recommendations include using more alternatives to detention, curtailing transfers between detention facilities, establishing a better tracking system for medically vulnerable detainees, prioritizing bond hearings and habeas petitions, and including immigration detainees among the groups to be offered COVID-19 vaccine in the initial phase of the vaccination program. The lessons learned from the spread of COVID-19 in immigration detention will hopefully lead to a better response to any future pandemics. In discussing these issues, the Article draws on national data from January 2019 through November 2020 published by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), two agencies within DHS. The main datasets used are detention statistics published by ICE for FY 2019 (Oct. 2018-Sep. 2019), FY 2020 (Oct. 2019-Sep. 2020), and the first two months of FY 2021 (Oct. 2020-Nov. 2020). These datasets include detention statistics about individuals arrested by ICE in the interior of the country, as well as by CBP at or near the border. Additionally, the Article draws on separate data published by CBP regarding the total number of apprehensions at the border based on its immigration authority under Title 8 of the United States Code, as well as the number of expulsions at the border based on its public health authority under Title 42 of the United States Code.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Carl Lindskoog
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Immigrant And Refugee

This chapter introduces the problem of immigration detention and reviews its history, noting that the policy of detention was discontinued in 1954 but then began to re-emerge in the 1970s and was formally reinstituted in 1981. What led to the return of immigration detention in the United States and how did the detention system become the behemoth that it is today, the introduction asks. It then lays out the main arguments and framework of the book, emphasizing the central role that Haitians have played in the history of immigration detention and making connections to the broader history and scholarly literature of immigrant and refugee resistance, race and citizenship, and mass incarceration. The introduction concludes with a chapter-by-chapter overview of the book.

scholarly journals Challenges in accessing health care services : Canadian children living in mixed-status families

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Ayla Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
Uninsured Patients ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mixed Status Families ◽  
Mixed Status

Few studies have explored the prevalence of Canadian children with family members that have precarious legal status and the impact of parental immigration status on a child's access to health care in Canada. This quantitative research study uses a rights-based approach to discuss secondary data collected retrospectively between 2005-2009 at a medical clinic for uninsured patients in eastern Toronto, Ontario (n=128). Demographic, immigration, and health-related factors are presented, and parental immigration status and health-seeking behaviours are explored. Findings indicate that: many Canadian children (Canadian-born and naturalized Canadians) are uninsured; Canadian children who attend the clinic are sick, as opposed to accessing well-child check-ups; and, a group of Canadian children living in mixed-status families are accessing health care facilities for medically uninsured patients. This study highlights mixed-status families, and the potential impact on children's access to health care. This study helps fill the research gap regarding uninsured Canadian children. It is intended to increase community and professional awareness about impingements made in fulfilling Canadian children's right to access the "universal" health care services they have been promised. In turn, this research could inform future policy, practice, and research within health care, educational, and governmental domains.

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