Aggressive immigration practices, including detention, deportation, and workplace raids are causing widespread emotional trauma among children. So says a study by a team of mental health professionals at UC Riverside’s School of Medicine.
The report, published July 25 in Psychiatric News , suggests that “acute psychological risks” — among both immigrant and U.S.-born children living in mixed-status households — develop from forced family separations, particularly those resulting from immigration enforcement actions, such as detention and deportation.
The researchers propose that immigration enforcement in the United States is a public health emergency for millions of children.
Citing clinical case studies and community-based data, researches said trauma is transmitted across generati