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Running Head: INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

Deporting Undocumented Hispanics and Latinos in the United States: Parent Trauma versus

Child Trauma

Ariel Salazar

Manhattan College
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

Abstract

Hispanic people make up about 18% of the U.S. population. Undocumented Hispanic people

make up about 4.6% of the population. Hispanic immigrants started becoming concerned

about their immigration status the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy

passed by President Barack Obama was removed by President Donald J. Trump. Immigrants

who were deported are suffering psychologically because of their dangerous migration

experience and the separation from their family. As a result of the migration, both immigrants

and their families are developing mental disorders and they are suffering from many

symptoms, regardless of their genders and ages. Traumatic experiences may include assault,

sexual abuse, and abduction. This paper is an overview of the lives of illegal immigrants who

are afraid of getting deported and deportees who are struggling with their lives post-

migration. This paper also emphasizes on the differences between adult trauma and child

trauma.

Keywords: trauma; post-traumatic stress disorder; PTSD; immigrants; separation anxiety,

parental separation; isolation; child trauma; parent trauma; family trauma

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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

Deporting Undocumented Hispanics and Latinos in the United States: Parent Trauma versus

Child Trauma

Of 325.7 million Americans in the United States, about 58.6 millions of that population

is either Hispanic or Latino (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). However, roughly 15 million people

in that country are undocumented, Hispanic immigrants (Torres, Santiago, Walts, & Richards,

2018). As of now, law enforcement officers are arresting undocumented Hispanic people

(which are ultimately deported from the U.S. as a result of crime and detention), and this is a

problem because often times, the immigrants are traumatized from the dangerous migration,

and they no longer have the robust and social support of their families. In September of 2018,

President Donald Trump removed DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which is

a policy that protects immigrants from getting deported and makes them eligible to receive a

working permit. Whether or not Trump made a smart choice, DACA's removal has caused a

high level of concern and fear in hundreds of thousands of people, who have DACA and are

protected from deportation (Cadenas, Bernstein & Tracey, 2018). While adult immigrants

suffer from mental illnesses as a result of the migrating experience, their children may also

develop symptoms of their own, as well as dealing with parental separation.

Deportees may suffer psychologically and emotionally because after they have worked

hard to establish themselves in the U.S. and after they have waited many years to be

naturalized, getting arrested and deported to another country is painful for these people

because they have stayed in the country for such a long time and they may no longer be

eligible for citizenship. Deportation may cause other problems, such as family separation and
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

endangerment during migration. For example, the separation of an immigrant from his or her

family can damage the immigrant-family relationship and make it more distant. Also, the

migration tends to be dangerous because abuse and abduction are both common threats for the

immigrants. From these two problems, deported immigrants end up having multiple losses

and traumas, which makes their lives more difficult to handle because they may develop

mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and symptoms such as anxiety

and depression.

PTSD is a common, mental disorder that an immigrant may develop as a result of

deportation. According to the Fifth Edition of DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders), one tends to develop PTSD when he or she experiences a violent event

that threatens the life and well-being of his or her own life or the life of a close relative.

(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Deportees who develop PTSD also develop

anxiety, depression, nightmares, hypervigilance, and other symptoms that haunt them when

they remember the incident. For example, a hypervigilant person may feel threatened in safe

situations and may physically harm others as a result of their judgment. Irritation, which is

another symptom of PTSD, causes a person to feel annoyed and angry. When deportees are

irritated, they may find it difficult to control themselves; irritation is a problem because,

similarly to hypervigilance, people with irritation may become violent and hurt others.

PTSD plays a significant role in the lives of deported DREAMers (young people who

were brought illegally into the United States by their parents). PTSD symptoms may serve as

wounds that remind DREAMers of the incident; both the trauma and the violence make
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

DREAMers feel vulnerable to more harm in the future. For example, an adolescent who

develops PTSD symptoms may also generate some difficulties in development and

functioning (Rojas-Flores, Clements, Hwang Koo, & London, 2017). This fact is problematic

because there is a chance that such symptoms are passed down to future generations; the lives

of children are generally more important than the lives of their parents because today’s young

people will be the future’s leaders. Although few children suffer as a result of their parents

(who may have a history of deportation or may suffer from anxiety or depression), it is unfair

that those children need to deal with the consequences of being parented by an adult with a

mental illness.

Abusive experiences during migration include, and are not restricted to, sexual assault

and abduction (Torres et al., 2018). Three out of five women are sexually abused or

kidnapped during migration (Torres et al., 2018; Kaltman, de Mendoza, Gonzales, Serrano &

Guarnaccia, 2011). Sexual assault is not something that the immigration law enforcement

agency is responsible for because immigrants are molested by individuals who dedicate

themselves to human trafficking on the Mexican-American border. Besides sexual assault,

border crossing from Mexico to the U.S. can be lethal because the area is violent and

dangerous. To get an idea of what it is like to cross the border, a study shows that one out of

three children were killed at the Arizona border from 1995 to 2004 because of border crossing

(Torres et al., 2018; Rubio-Hernandez & Ayón, 2016). Based on this fact, deported

immigrants who are not threatened or abused can be considered lucky. Also, while it is

necessary to establish more control and security on the Mexican-American border,

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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

enforcement may be a disadvantage because it limits other people the chance to cross the

border for reasons such as seeking medical care (Rojas-Flores et al., 2017).

Not only does trauma cause deportees to suffer psychologically, but daily stressors also

contribute to their psychological pain because the stressors may cause the deportee to consider

safe situations as threatening or challenging ones (Miller & Rasmussen, 2010). A daily

stressor is an event, condition, or stimulus that causes stress to an individual, who has been

traumatized, on a regular basis. Deportation-related stressors (e.g., discrimination and social

isolation) predict symptom levels as well as violence that occurred before migration (Miller &

Rasmussen, 2010). Unfortunately, people have a hard time dealing with daily stressors

because it is impossible to control them because they are found everywhere. For example, law

enforcement officers may bring back memories and images to the deportee when he or she got

arrested. Also, when an undocumented immigrant is aware of U.S. immigration laws, of his

or her immigration status, and knows that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

agent has the power to send him or her out of the country, he or she will dread law

enforcement in general because they are afraid of interrogation and possible deportation.

Deportation always tends to be unfavorable for the immigrant and his or her family. At

times, it is likely that families break apart because a member is deported and the structure of

the family does not remain the same. However, victims do not experience the same struggles

that their families do because the circumstances for each may vary. While immigrants are

having trouble dealing with the dangers of migration and the trauma after migration, their

families deal with the feeling of loss, frustration, and fear after witnessing the departure of the

victim, as well as any violence that could have occurred during the arrest (Salas, Ayón &
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

Gurrola, 2013). Family trauma consists mainly of fear and depression (Salas et al., 2013).

Immigrant families get frustrated with the immigration system because the system is unjust.

Wives become afraid when their husbands get detained by police because they do not know if

their husband will return home or not (Salas et al., 2013). A mother describes the feeling

when she could have lost her husband, “it’s like you get paralyzed… you are in shock… you

don’t know what to do, or where to move” (Salas et al., 2013). Fathers also stress out because

they are obligated to support their families financially; fathers cannot maintain their families

if they get arrested (Salas et al., 2013).

Parents who get deported are afraid that they will be unable to continue parenting their

children (Dreby, 2012). If a father stops working, he may feel as if he can no longer provide

for his family. As a result, the father’s relationship with his wife and kids is subject to change

because of his mental struggle and frustration. Also, if a father gets arrested for his illegal

immigration status, not only will he be humiliated for his arrest, but he may also feel belittled

because the law enforcement agents that detain him do not consider him as a father who has

dependents and who loves his family.

Parental deportation also has a significant effect on the kids. Many children are unaware

of immigration laws in the U.S. Not only will a child not understand what deportation is, but

they also will not understand why their parent had left them. The parental separation can

leave the child confused and disillusioned while also paving a path to abandonment issues. If

a child’s parents are arrested without warning, the child may experience trauma for many

reasons; unexpected deportation may be shocking for children and violence during the arrest
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

may also hurt them (Salas et al., 2013). In a study, a mother was stopped by the police and

two things came to her mind: that her husband might get deported and that she never

explained what immigration was to her son, who was in the car with her. She explains the

experience, “I have never explained immigration that we are not from here. Maybe I have

done wrong. I saw him so worried that this was what hurt me the most seeing him”. This

situation was hard for her because she worried about the fate or her husband and she also did

not know how to explain the event to her son without hurting him psychologically.

On the other hand, a study shows that some children already know what deportation is

and that their immigrant parents may get deported if they get into trouble. As a result, most of

those children are afraid that someday their parents will be deported (Dreby, 2012). The fact

that parents and their kids strive to stay out of trouble, in order to stay in the country, shows

how this threat obligates them to behave, or else they might be separated from one another.

Illegal families would be agitated and nerve-wracking if they continuously needed to act with

caution while doing ordinary tasks on a daily basis, such as getting pulled over while driving

or being questioned by police if someone files a complaint on them.

Undocumented parents who either get deported or threatened with deportation may

experience symptoms as severe as anxiety and depression (Rojas-Flores et al., 2017). The

psychological struggle of immigrant parents may affect their progeny because the symptoms

they experience can be passed down genetically or through social interactions, such as

communication. For example, there is a good chance that deported immigrants with a mental

illness will pass on their condition, or a similar condition, to their children (Dreby, 2012).
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

Social interaction also plays a significant role in the transmission of mental illness in children

because males and females in between the ages of 7 and 18 tend to develop severe PTSD

symptoms, such as sexual abuse and domestic violence. (Rojas-Flores et al., 2017).

A condition known as separation anxiety disorder is derived when a child experiences

anxiety after he or she gets separated from his or her parents. Parent-child separation may

severely affect the health of a child because children need the support and access of their

parents in order to have a healthy development. A recent study sampled a group of almost

1,500 children with anxiety disorders, in which more than half of them suffered from

separation anxiety; separation anxiety is associated mostly with distress and oppositional

behavior (Méndez, Espada, Orgilés, Llavona, & García-Fernandez, 2014). A big issue for

many young immigrants is not wanting to proceed with their life after they have lost the

presence of their parents (Méndez et al., 2014). For example, many children refuse to go to

school because they were emotionally and psychologically hurt when their parents got

deported (Méndez et al., 2014). It is not fair if children lose the parental guidance and comfort

of their parents while developing separation anxiety because they need their parents to guide

them throughout their childhood.

Solitude is another problem for parent immigrants. According to a study on social

isolation in Latina immigrants, women struggle with their solitude because they cannot keep

moving on with their lives without their family and acquaintances (Hurtado-de-Mendoza &

Gonzales, 2014). They also mention that they feel "encerrada," which means caged in English

(Hurtado-de-Mendoza & Gonzales, 2014). Women with a similar situation do not have many

solutions to overcome their feelings of loneliness; isolation may rub salt on the wounds of
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

immigrant Latina women because the solitude may add up with other psychological struggles,

such as sexual abuse during their migrations and their routinary interactions with their family

and friends.

Both the immigrant and his or her family encounter a tough situation when it comes to

deportation. To summarize, child immigrants deal with solitude, danger during their

migration, and trauma following all these events. Parent immigrants deal with anxiety and

depression, as well as humiliation because they tend to lose custody of their children. Not

only do adult immigrants struggle to go on with their lives post-migration, but it is probable

that their children suffer from the absence of their parents and develop mental disorders such

as PTSD and depression. While some may believe that undocumented Hispanic immigrants

do not belong in America, deporting them is not a solution because they are likely to

experience trauma during migration, while being obligated to leave their families behind. If a

child’s parents are deported, the child may also suffer from a mental illness or symptoms. No

one deserves to suffer from psychological pain because the symptoms are bound to toughen

one’s life. It is in our best interest to consider the consequences of deportation and allow

immigrants to get manipulated safely. The ideal solution to this problem would be to establish

more control and protection on the Mexican border, in order to diminish the probability of

abuse, abduction, and other violent actions. Not only will this allow immigrants to be secure

and avoid traumatic experiences during their migration, but it may also derive more benefits

for the U.S. and its citizens, such as reducing crime and drug trafficking. Although the 15

million undocumented Hispanics make up roughly 4.6% of the U.S. population, we should
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INVESTIGATION OF TRAUMA IN DEPORTED U.S. IMMIGRANTS

consider their situation because Hispanic people play a significant role in the country.

Immigrants come to the United States to raise a family and to have freedom of religion and

speech; instead, immigrant families get separated, immigrant parents cannot raise their

children, immigrant children suffer from separation anxiety, and as a result, deportations

affect the entire family. It is not fair if immigrants are sent back out of the country and deal

with trauma instead of staying in the U.S. to raise a family and have the same opportunities

that U.S. citizens have.

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