The Structural Violence of Family Separation and Immigration Enforcement: Longitudinal Impacts on Latinx Immigrant Mental Health

• In Event: Abolish ICE! Migration and Detention under Trump 2.0

Abstract

Family separation among immigrants who resettle in the United States is a common experience and strong determinant of psychological distress. As more people flee violence, persecution, poverty, and climate change, family separation has inevitably increased. Unfortunately, it has also been exacerbated and prolonged by the impact of punitive U.S. immigration policies on people seeking refuge and opportunities to survive. Although the U.S. contribution to the structural violence of family separation has long been recognized, the pace and mechanisms of family separation have accelerated and expanded due to intensified immigration enforcement practices. Within a longitudinal, mixed method, community-based participatory mental health intervention study, we expanded a typical measure of potentially traumatic experiences to assess multiple aspects of family separation occurring post-migration and additional U.S. immigration enforcement-related experiences. Quantitative data collected from 481 Latinx immigrants between January-June 2025 revealed that family separation post-migration and family member detention/deportation/pending deportation were significant predictors of psychological distress, even when controlling for overall trauma exposure. We leveraged our 7 timepoints (2021-2025) of quantitative survey data and 6 timepoints of qualitative interview data to map family separation events onto psychological distress trajectories, demonstrating the complex, enduring, and radiating effects of U.S. immigration policies on mental health. Our findings have critical implications for policy and practice and highlight the importance of mixed method, longitudinal, community-engaged research with immigrants.

Authors

• Jessica Rose Goodkind, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Lee Van Horn, University of New Mexico

• Julia Meredith Hess, University of New Mexico

• Bianca Ruiz-Negrón, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Susana Echeverri Herrera, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Megan Faulkner, University of New Mexico

• Alena Kuhlemeier, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Alejandra Guadalupe Lemus, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Daisy Ramos, University of New Mexico

• David Thomas Lardier, Montclair State University

• Janet Ramirez, University of California Los Angeles

• Alejandro Tovar Sosa, University of New Mexico

• Dulce Medina Bustillos, University of New Mexico

• Aurora Arreola, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center

• Nyah Hadfield, University of New Mexico

• Aida Revilla

• Sonia Ramirez, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center

• Cirila Estela Vasquez Guzman, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

• Norma Casas, Encuentro

• Margarita Galvis, Centro Savila

• Ivonne Aguirre, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center