Alejandro
Chavez
Professor
Montoya
English
102
4
August 2025
The Challenges of Mental Health in
Immigrant Communities
As
many of us know, there has been ongoing conflict regarding undocumented
immigrants and border patrol organizations like the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) that has been prevalent in our country since the
1900’s but has recently seen a surge in the last few years. Currently in many
states, there are I.C.E agents prevalent and actively looking for undocumented
immigrants to deport. The stress and anxiety these organizations bring to
undocumented immigrants is immeasurable; having that thought in your mind that
someday you may be taken away from your family, friends, job, home, and for
some their children for simply not having their citizenship likely haunts them.
Often these people that are being taken away have a clean criminal record but
are still taken away regardless due to being undocumented. There have been
heated debates concerning this matter for centuries, with both sides having
their solid arguments. What seems to be the main concern between both side is does
immigrating to the United States illegally improve mental health for those who
do it? While the views on immigration may differ it’s important to question if the
fear of deportation in immigrant communities has a significant effect on mental
health that may cause depression, anxiety and long-term distrust of law
enforcement that may also bring up the need for mental health resources in
these communities and policy changes.
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iStock
Perspective
#1: Immigration Enforcements Role on Mental Health
Those
that see the situations that arise from problems with immigration enforcement
present their claim simply; the presence and actions of border patrol agencies
play a significant role in the development of emotional and psychological
difficulties in those affected by them. In their article, “How the Fear of
Immigration Enforcement Affects the Mental Health of Latino Youth,” published
by Randy Capps and Michael Fix, Capps and Fix present a survey that was done by
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI), University of Houston, and Rhode Island
College that collected data from three hundred and six Latino high schoolers
from Texas and Rhode Island to determine the mental health effects these
agencies brought within that community. Using the data collected from this
survey, Capps and Fix state, “More than half the sample reported levels of
anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that were high
enough to warrant a clinical diagnosis. They also reported, on average, more
than seven traumatic life events such as witnessing assault, being assaulted,
losing a loved one, or being separated from a parent”. Looking at these
statistics alone, the percentage of people who faced some kind of abuse of
power or having a loved one taken from them due to immigration enforcement is noteworthy
showing how common it really is. Capps and Fix believe certain changes in
immigration policies are significant, but that “they
will need to be accompanied by sustained attention in schools and other
institutions to the mental-health issues faced by Latino youth and provision of
counseling and other services to address these issues”. In other words,
providing multiple outlets for mental health assistance and counselors mainly
for Hispanic children affected by immigration enforcement may play as much of a
crucial role as certain policies would.
Image by Andrej Lisakov from
Unsplash
Perspective #2: Migrations Effect
on Happiness, Good or Bad?
While
individuals with the viewpoint that illegally migrating may affect happiness don’t
necessarily deny the psychological issues caused by the conflictions with immigration
enforcement, they suggest that moving countries can most definitely play an
impactful role on happiness and wellbeing depending on the individual’s location
and situation. In his article, “Does Migration Increase Happiness? It Depends,”
Martijn Hendricks introduces a study completed in the 2018 World
Happiness Report, where the study indicated that worldwide immigrants are
overall satisfied after migrating. Hendricks states, “However, important differences
exist between the subjective experiences of migrants moving to and from
different regions of the world. And as immigrants adapt to new environments,
their aspirations and frames of reference shift, causing their happiness gains
to eventually level off”. Essentially, depending on where the individual is
migrating to and from, may shape the experiences they have in the new country
and as time goes on the vision they once had of this new location begins to
fade due to becoming acclimated to their surroundings. Hendricks expands more
on this study: “The results are mixed for people moving between similarly
developed countries. On one hand, considerable gains in happiness occur . . . By
contrast, migrants moving between some other similarly developed countries . .
. experience either no difference or a decline in their happiness”. Through
this article, we can assume that although migration might come with some
difficulties along the way, an individual’s destination, expectations and
background makes that big difference, Hendricks acknowledges that using
migration alone is “improving human well-being,” but is “far from reaching the
full potential” likely due to that plateau in happiness after migrants become adjusted.
Image By Getty Images from Unsplash
Similarities
and Differences
Multiple
similarities and differences can be observed when looking at either side of these
disputes. The differences in each authors view on the matter vary differently
depending on the context of the individual involved. Capps and Fix argue that
psychological and emotional distress in immigrants is primarily caused by issues
that are rooted in immigration enforcement. While Hendricks does not directly
deny this, he suggests that this distress may also arise from other
complications like where they originally come from, where they are migrating to,
their expectations at this new location and how they adjust to their new
environment among other factors may implicate an individual’s happiness. Although
the authors are in agreement that migrants are susceptible to facing some kind
of distress at some point in their lives, they differ in saying where this
distress mainly comes from. Another key difference between authors is the
population that was studied for each article. While Capps and Fix focused on a
more concise study using a rather small population of Latino youth in Rhode
Island and Texas, Hendricks provides a broader study using the 2018 World
Happiness Report, which are “surveys of some 36,000 migrants from more than
150 countries”. One similarity that lies between the authors is in their belief
that policies should be changed to take more into consideration the mental
health of immigrants. Capps and Fix suggests, “[P]olicy changes such as
narrowing the scope of immigration arrests and deportations, fully restoring
the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and reversing the
public-charge rule may contribute to lowering anxiety within the Latino youth population”.
While Hendricks believes that “[i]ncreasing the happiness of immigrants can be
a fruitful way to enhance the benefits of immigration for the host society . .
. Hence, to the extent that other concerns are balanced, policies that
contribute to migrant happiness are likely to create a win-win situation for
both immigrants and natives”. Even though Capps and Fix state specific changes
they believe would assist in aiding mental health and Hendricks doesn’t, they
still agree that policy changes are an important step to make regardless.
Image by Getty Images from Unsplash
Strengths
and Weaknesses
Each authors view of the argument
comes with their strengths and weaknesses, Capps and Fix bring up many
important points in their argument that immigration enforcement negatively
effects mental health. Possibly their best finding being that over half of the
population in their study were negatively affected by immigration, citing the
results of their study with more than half of the participants being affected negatively
helps solidify their argument that much more. With many other statistics brought
up on the certain type of mental health conditions that arose from immigrant
enforcement like fear of deportation, separation anxiety and discrimination,
Capps and Fix can use this to help leverage the argument in their direction by
providing real proven statistics alongside it. A flaw in Capps and Fix’s could
possibly be their sample size, by only providing studies done on Latino
students across two states, the other Latino students across the entire nation
are being left out of the study which could possibly shift the outcome of the
study. As for Hendricks, his way of presenting his argument is unique because
he doesn’t make assumptions about the individuals involved, he understands that
everyone is dealt a different hand in life and how they play it may shift their
emotional well-being. By doing this, Hendricks shows his ability to comprehend
the difficult circumstances someone in this position might face, while showing
compassion with those involved in the process. Although stated before that a
smaller sample size may not be as strong as a bigger one, too big of a sample
size may also harm your study. Hendricks uses the 2018 World Happiness
Report and although a larger sample size might provide less room for error,
this also might magnify the impact of his side’s argument; by having such a
large testing pool it could lead to possible inaccurate and confusing
information.
Image by
designer491 from iStock
Compromise
With migrating being a primary source of happiness to many, issues are likely to arise within those moving countries. While this change may provide new opportunities for them and their family, the individual should consider the downsides of migration that might affect their mental health before making that final decision. The individual should also be wary of making such a change when they have a child or multiple children as the struggle of mental health might branch off to them as well. For some, although the negatives might outweigh the positives, they make the decision to migrate regardless for a vision and a chance of giving their children a better life than they could ever have. For me, I truly do believe that immigrant communities do face negative complications with mental health, especially those who are children of immigrant parents because as a child if your parents are not documented and they are taken away, that child will be going into the hands of people who are strangers to them and no doubt the child would be hurt by this and told eventually what happened to their parents. Not only would this likely build up a hatred for law enforcement in the child, but they would also be without those who were meant to raise and protect them, likely fostering other psychological problems later in life due to that experience. I believe a compromise for this debate would be as an individual who wants to migrate, they should understand the risks involved by doing so and those who are part of immigration enforcement should not overstep their boundaries and abuse their power to allow for more peace of mind in undocumented immigrants who plan on moving to a new country. There should also be mental health resources like counselors and therapists in immigrant communities for the Hispanic children who are affected by the actions of immigration enforcement, so they have some kind of outlet for their concerns and needs.
Image by Josue Michel on Unsplash
Works Cited
Capps, Randy, and Michael Fix. “How
the Fear of Immigration Enforcement Affects the Mental Health of Latino
Youth.” Migrationpolicy.org, 9 Dec. 2020,
www.migrationpolicy.org/news/how-fear-immigration-enforcement-affects-mental-health-latino-youth.
Martijn Hendriks. “Does Migration
Increase Happiness? It Depends.” Migrationpolicy.org, 20 June 2018,
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/does-migration-increase-happiness-it-depends.
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