Implications of Immigration Enforcement Activities for the Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families: A Review of the Literature
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Highlights
Parental deportation inflicts trauma and family dissolution on children of unauthorized immigrants. For many, health and social services remain structurally out of reach.
- An estimated 5.3 million children live with an unauthorized immigrant parent, leaving them broadly vulnerable to enforcement actions; 85 percent are U.S.-born citizens.
- Effects of parental deportation on children mirror those seen with parental incarceration: psychological trauma, material hardship, residential instability, increased use of public benefits, and, among boys, aggression.
- Family income dropped an average of 70 percent in the six months following a parent's arrest in one study of six immigration enforcement operation sites; nearly one-quarter of families reported parental hunger.
Rising immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior over the past decade increased the chances that the estimated 5.3 million children living with unauthorized immigrant parents, the vast majority of them born in the United States, could experience the deportation of a parent.
This MPI-Urban Institute report reviews the evidence on the impacts of parental deportation on children, and on their needs for health and social services. The literature mostly dates from a period of peak enforcement: 2009 through 2013, when there were nearly 4 million deportations from the United States. While data on parental removals during this period are limited, perhaps half a million were of parents of U.S.-citizen children.
The economic and social instability that generally accompanies unauthorized status is further aggravated for children with a parent’s deportation, with effects including psychological trauma, material hardship, residential instability, family dissolution, increased use of public benefits, and, among boys, aggression. At the extreme end, some families became permanently separated as parents lose custody of or contact with their children.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Impacts of Parental Detention and Deportation on Children
Broad Impacts on a Large Segment of the Hispanic Child Population
Impacts on Children of Unauthorized Immigrants
Short-Term Impacts of Parental Apprehension, Detention, and Deportation
Long-Term Impacts of Parental Apprehension, Detention, and Deportation
Children Leaving the United States
Family Dissolution and Child Welfare System Involvement
Meeting the Needs of Children with Detained and Deporated Parents
Needs of Children in the Child Welfare System
Food, Shelter, Health Care, and Other Basic Needs
Mental Health Care Needs
Supporting Children in Public Schools and Early Education Programs
U.S. Immigration Enforcement and Changes in the Composition of Unauthorized Populations
Unauthorized Population at Risk for Deportation
Discretion in Deporting Parents
State and Local Partnerships in Immigration Enforcement
Deportation of Returning Parents Apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico Border
Unanswered Questions and Avenues for Future Research
About the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
The Center is a national hub connecting policymakers, educators, community leaders, and service providers with evidence-informed policy research, technical assistance, and data to advance effective immigrant integration at U.S., state, and local levels.
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
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