"Y si no, me enfermo": How Anti-Immigrant Climates Affect Educators Working With Latinx Immigrant Communities

• In Event: Seeking Truth Through an Authentic Understanding of Teachers' Lived Experiences

Abstract

Purpose
A growing body of literature indicates that Latinx immigrant families are adversely affected by restrictive immigration policies and anti-immigrant rhetoric (Author et al., 2018). Little is known about how educators working with Latinx immigrant communities in restrictive immigration climates fare. Because of the racialization of immigration policy enforcement, being an immigrant, being Latinx, and having undocumented legal status have been conflated (Abrego et al., 2017). As such, the Latinx community is disproportionately impacted by immigration policies and policing practices in the U.S. (Menjívar et al., 2018). Given that 25% of school age children in the U.S. are Latinx (NCES, 2015) and that an estimated one in four of these students live in homes stressed by the threat of deportation (Gándara, 2017), a better understanding of the impact of the immigration climate on educators is necessary to inform policies and practices supporting the education work force that works with Latinx students.
Theoretical Framework and Method
This study is grounded in an ecological transactional model that situates anti-immigrant rhetoric and racialized, restrictive immigration policies as a form of psychological violence for some children in immigrant households (Author et al., 2018). This study is also guided by stress theory, disaster and communication literature, and organizational communication literature. Using mixed methods, we aimed to answer, “how is educator work and well-being affected by an anti-immigrant climate?” An online survey (n=88) and interviews with 17 educators in NY, CA, TX and AZ inform our findings.
Findings
Educators’ own worry about immigration is associated with psychological distress and sleep problems. Absent structural supports, educators working in Latinx immigrant communities can be adversely impacted by a charged immigration climate due to increases in work complexity, their own immigration-related worry, and experiences of vicarious racism. An inability to fully support students from immigrant households due to structural barriers is associated with educator demoralization.
Significance
This is the first study to examine the impact of a restrictive immigration climate on the work and well-being of educators. Educators working in Latinx immigrant communities benefit from school based supports such as leadership that acknowledges the stressors caused by a charged immigration climate, strong organizational communication, reliable informational support, communal coping, and peer supervision. Stakeholders and districts are encouraged to address a hostile immigration climate at the organizational, interpersonal, and personal levels.

Author

• R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez, New York University
  Presenting Author