Micro-level Interactions and Health Stratification: Abuses Committed against Deported Mexican Immigrants

Abstract

Although immigration enforcement has been linked to poor health outcomes among Latinx populations in the United States, little is known about how interpersonal interactions between immigrants and immigration enforcement agents potentially influence Latinx immigrant health. The author estimated heterogeneity in health outcomes among deported Mexican immigrants by experiences of immigration enforcement abuse using data from respondents to the Survey of Migration in the Northern Border of Mexico ( n = 28,853). Experiences of abuse were significantly associated with worse self-rated health and various health symptoms, with particularly large disparities for mental health symptomology. Given the magnitude of the deportation regime enacted against Mexican immigrants in the United States, thousands of immigrants may return to Mexico at an elevated risk for relatively poorer health. These results emphasize the importance of considering micro-level interactions as a mechanism of health stratification within the larger system of immigration enforcement in the United States.