Poster #122 - Living Under Enforcement: Community-Based ICE Arrests and Mental Health Among Hispanic Adults in the United States

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Immigration enforcement in the United States has increasingly shifted toward highly visible, community-based arrests, yet the broader consequences of this enforcement environment for population health remain incompletely understood. This study examines whether variation in community-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity is associated with mental health outcomes among adults, with a focus on Hispanic populations who may be disproportionately exposed to enforcement-related stress.We link individual-level data from the 2023–2024 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a nationally representative monthly survey of U.S. adults, with state-by-month measures of ICE arrests obtained from the Deportation Data Project. Our key explanatory variable is the rate of non-prison (community-based) ICE arrests per 10,000 non-citizens, capturing enforcement that occurs in neighborhoods, workplaces, and other public-facing settings. Leveraging within-state variation over time, we estimate regression models with state and year-month fixed effects, controlling for individual sociodemographic characteristics and local economic conditions.We find that higher levels of community-based ICE enforcement are associated with significantly worse mental health outcomes among Hispanic adults. Specifically, increases in enforcement intensity are linked to more poor mental health days, a higher likelihood of reporting any mental distress, and an increased prevalence of composite mental health problems. These associations are concentrated among Hispanic women and individuals with lower levels of education. In contrast, we find no meaningful or statistically significant associations for non-Hispanic adults, with estimates that are small and precisely centered around zero.Our findings suggest that contemporary immigration enforcement generates psychological spillover effects that extend beyond individuals directly targeted by enforcement actions. The shift toward more visible and less predictable forms of enforcement may contribute to chronic stress, fear, and uncertainty within affected communities, with implications for public health and well-being. These results underscore the importance of considering mental health as part of the broader social costs of immigration policy and highlight the need for policymakers and practitioners to account for community-level impacts when evaluating enforcement strategies.

Author

• Dinara Tekin, American University
  Presenting Author