Latinx Immigrants Research Articles

Gang Phantasmagoria: How Racialized Gang Allegations Haunt Immigration Legal Work

Through an analysis of interviews with Southern California attorneys, supplemented by archival materials, this article contributes to the literature on gangs, critical criminology, and Gothic tropes by examining how the ambiguous nature of gang profiling allows state actors to target racialized others in various legal and administrative venues with little evidence and few procedural protections. I conceptualize gang phantasmagoria as the constant, amorphous, unpredictable, and haunting threat of racialized gang allegations and argue that the dynamic shapes the work of legal practitioners and constitutes a state mechanism of racial terror. Specifically, first I argue that government officials deploy the specter of gangs to both portray asylum seekers as monstrous threats and justify restrictions in asylum eligibility. I then illustrate how the potential for gang phantasmagoria to upend asylum applications and trigger the deportation of their clients elicits constant low-grade anxiety for attorneys. Consequently, attorneys are forced to adopt more cautious approaches to legal work in a way that indirectly facilitates the social control of young Latinx immigrants.

Spanish Translation and Psychometric Validation of a Measure of Acculturative Stress among Latinx Immigrants in the USA.

Background: In the United States, the Latinx community is growing at a faster rate than any other racial or ethnic minority group. Members of this community have been found to experience a number of acculturative stressors after immigrating, including xenophobia, racism, and discrimination. Although several scales have been created in recent years to measure acculturative stress in Spanish-speaking immigrants, they are long, do not have nuanced subscales, or have not been validated in an extremely diverse sample of Latinx immigrants. Objective: The purpose of the current study was to translate and psychometrically validate the Riverside Acculturative Stress Inventory (RASI) in a diverse sample of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Methods: A sample of 202 Latinx immigrants in the United States completed the RASI as well as measures of depression and anxiety. Results: An initial confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the overall subscale factor structure was not an ideal fit for the data. An exploratory factor analysis suggested the retention of four subscales, each with three items, forming a 12-item Spanish RASI short form. As indices of convergent validity, the RASI total score was positively associated with depression and anxiety. Conclusions: The findings from the study contribute to the literature a brief and valid assessment of acculturative stress in Spanish-speaking immigrants. The RASI Spanish short form holds promise to stimulate research on the unique adversities experienced by Latinx immigrants.

Policy Implications of Structural Violence and Syndemic Dynamics: A Lens for Addressing Latinx Immigrant Diabetes Health Disparities.

Purpose of ReviewThe purpose of this review is to explore using theoretical frameworks of structural violence and syndemics to understand Latinx health disparities with a focus on type 2 diabetes (T2D). We propose that combining these frameworks is a valuable approach for revealing complex root-cause dynamics and explaining the nuances of how and why health disparities exist. We discuss the importance of the relationship between T2D, fear, and stigma.Recent FindingsImmigration policy creates structural conditions that invite unauthorized immigration while simultaneously excluding undocumented immigrants from access to healthcare resources. Structural exclusion then breeds fear of immigration status disclosure and deportation and, in the highly politicized immigration context that has emerged over the past two decades, also assigns social sigma to immigration status. Undocumented immigrants lack access to healthcare and health insurance; they cannot afford state-of-the-art drugs, they tend to be socially isolated and lack social capital to navigate systems; they are financially limited by poverty and lack of resources, emotionally taxed by the experience of discrimination, humiliation, and language-related challenges; and they have a toxic immigration stress load in the form of multidimensional fear. Potential areas for policy change are identified.SummaryType 2 diabetes (T2D) follows racial, ethnic, and class fault lines that reflect unequal social and structural dynamics. Latinx immigrants are at disproportionate risk and explaining immigrant T2D social geography requires a holistic lens.

Moving into Critical Spaces: Making Meaning of One Rural Educator’s Experiences Working with Latinx Immigrant Students

This research highlights the experiences of one rural educator in a Midwestern elementary school. Initially grounded in Swanson’s middle range theory of caring (1991, 1993), the author sought to make meaning of how the participant worked with immigrant students, specifically undocumented Latinx students, through an ethic of care. As tensions emerged from classroom-based observations and interviews, the author chose to draw upon Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a way of examining how racism operates within educational spaces. Guided by Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) narrative form, through the description (telling) and reflection (retelling), the author makes meaning of racial biases, microaggressions, and the exclusion of undocumented Latinx students.

Documentation Status and Self-Rated Physical Health Among Latinx Young Adult Immigrants: the Mediating Roles of Immigration and Healthcare Stress.

Previous research has demonstrated that undocumented Latinx immigrants in the USA report worse physical health outcomes than documented immigrants. Some studies suggest that immigration-related stress and healthcare related-stress may explain this relationship, but none have tested it empirically. The purpose of this study was to determine if immigration-related stress and healthcare-related stress in the USA explain the relationship between documentation status and physical health among Latinx immigrants in North Carolina. The conceptual model was tested utilizing baseline data from a longitudinal, observational, community-engaged research study of young adult (18–44 years) Latinx immigrants residing in North Carolina (N = 391). Structural equation modeling was used to determine relationships among documentation status, healthcare, and immigration stress in the past six months, and self-rated physical health. Goodness-of-fit measures indicated that data fit the model well (RMSEA = .008; CFI = 1.0; TLI = .999; SRMR = .02; CD = .157). Undocumented individuals were more likely to experience immigration stress than their documented counterparts (beta = − 0.37, p < 0.001). Both immigration stress (beta = − 0.22, p < 0.01) and healthcare stress (beta = − 0.14, p < 0.05) were negatively related to physical health. Additionally, immigration stress was positively related to healthcare stress (beta = 0.72, p < 0.001). Results demonstrate that documentation status is an important social determinant of health. Passage of inclusive immigration and healthcare policies may lessen the stress experienced by Latinx immigrants and subsequently improve physical health.

“Our Community Is Filled with Experts”: The Critical Intergenerational Literacies of Latinx Immigrants that Facilitate a Communal Pedagogy of Resistance

Anti-immigrant legal violence and grassroots organizing against it have fundamentally shaped the lives of immigrant children and families in the US. This article inquires into the intergenerational literacy, teaching, and learning practices of Latinx immigrants’ political mobilization, drawing on qualitative data from a larger yearlong practitioner inquiry study that involved observant participant field notes, artifacts, photographs, and in-depth interviews with 11 undocumented and documented Latinx immigrants with whom I, a Latina immigrant, shared an organizing practice. Through analysis grounded on literacy as critical sociocultural practice, intergenerational learning, and Chicana/Latina education in everyday life, I argue that Latinx immigrants mobilize against oppression through critical literacy practices that facilitate what I theorize as a “communal pedagogy of resistance.” This is an intergenerational pedagogy enacted in communal spaces that grows from Latinx immigrants’ facultad, meaning the critical consciousness and epistemic privilege that results from living in the liminal space of the borderlands. This pedagogy views our community’s cultural, literacy, and linguistic practices as strengths and tools of resilience and resistance, and expands our definition of family and our sense of interdependence to fellow oppressed communities, teaching us to enact inclusive justice. A key takeaway is that Latinx immigrant students’ educational and literacy practices cannot be separated from those of their wider family/community, nor from their intergenerational sociopolitical struggles and expertise. Another is that intergenerational literacy and learning are bi/multidirectional. Implications include the need for educational institutions to learn from this pedagogy, and for additional literacy research into communal sociopolitical mobilization.

US public charge policy and Latinx immigrants’ thoughts about health and healthcare utilization

ABSTRACT Objectives We examined Latinx immigrants’ perceptions of US policy related to restrictions on immigrants’ use of public resources and their thoughts about the influence of these on immigrants’ healthcare utilization. Design A series of 16 focus group discussions with Latinx immigrant men and women (documented and undocumented) (N = 130) were conducted between May and July 2017 across four US cities. Results Four central themes emerged: participants attributed the limited resources available for affordable healthcare for many uninsured US immigrants (both documented and undocumented) to the US government’s view of immigrants as burdens on public resources and its subsequent unwillingness to dedicate funds for their care; participants expressed concerns, some unfounded, about negative immigration ramifications arising from diagnosis with health conditions perceived to be serious and/or expensive to treat; participants noted that some immigrants avoided using health programs and services to which they were entitled because of immigration concerns; finally, participants described how access to information on immigration laws and healthcare resources, and conversely, misinformation about these, influenced healthcare utilization. Conclusions Participants were acutely aware of the image of immigrants as public charges or potential burdens on government resources that underlies US immigration policy. In some cases, participants came to inaccurate and potentially harmful conclusions about the substance of laws and regulations based on their beliefs about the government’s rejection of immigrants who may burden public resources. This underscores the importance of ensuring that immigrants have access to information on immigration-related laws and regulations and on healthcare resources available to them. Participants noted that access to information also fostered resilience to widespread misinformation. Importantly, however, participants’ beliefs had some basis in US immigration policy discourse. Law and policy makers should reconsider legislation and political commentary that frame self-reliance, the guiding principle of US immigration policy, in terms of immigrants’ use of publicly funded healthcare resources.

Barriers to health care services among US-based undocumented Latinx immigrants within the sociopolitical climate under the Trump administration: A comparative analysis between client experiences and provider perceptions

As President Biden's administration works towards a ‘fair and humane’ immigration overhaul, it becomes critical to examine the implications of immigration policies/laws under the Trump administration on the well-being of undocumented residents to inform equitable reformations. We investigate challenges faced by undocumented Latinx immigrants in accessing health care services in the sociopolitical climate under the Trump administration. This study, which follows a similar study among frontline service providers, presents key findings from 23 in-depth interviews with Latinx individuals. Understanding their experiences is necessary to advance access to health-promoting services and uphold the human right to health. Our study participants' narratives document multiple barriers to health care services, many notably exacerbated by increasingly restrictive immigration policies/laws and heightened punitive interior enforcement practices under the Trump administration. As the nation awaits equitable immigration reform, health care organizations should immediately incorporate, amplify, or alter programs/practices to facilitate access among their undocumented clients. Focused organizational changes have the potential to reduce unmet health needs, minimize financial burdens for families, and curtail potential public health threats, the latter a particularly imperative goal within the current COVID-19 pandemic. We also distill conclusions drawn from our interviews with clients and their convergence with and divergence from conclusions drawn from our related research with providers. While providers recognize the negative impact of sociopolitical factors on their clients' access to health care services, client experiences illuminate potential gaps in their understanding. Bridging understanding between providers and clients can improve access, utilization, and retention in health care services.

Immigrant Influencers on TikTok: Diverse Microcelebrity Profiles and Algorithmic (In)Visibility

Internet celebrity has become a phenomenon of great interest for scholars in the last few years. This is partly due to its impact in contemporary media ecosystems, and its influence in political, social, cultural, and commercial behaviors around the world. Meanwhile, some segments of the population continue to be marginalized by sociotechnical configurations that perpetuate structures of dominance in the digital sphere and on social media platforms. This is the case of immigrants, who often face diverse digital, symbolic, and physical borders that neglect their voice and agency. Thus, the present study aims to explore the creative practices of immigrant tiktokers who have achieved a significant following on this platform. Using a case study approach, we explore four immigrant creator profiles with a following of 17,000 to 500,000 through in-depth interviews and a multimodal content analysis of 252 of their videos to delve into their platformed practices on TikTok. The participants are Latin American immigrant creators living in the US and Spain, identified as part of a larger study on the uses of TikTok by Latinx immigrants in these two countries exploring 53 immigrant creator profiles with more than 10,000 followers. Their practices related to algorithmic (in)visibility, and their unfolding identities including their digital, creative, political, activist, cultural, and national personas are noteworthy, and suggest unique pathways to reclaim agency through social media influence and construct multi-dimensional microcelebrity identities beyond migratory status.

Hoping for a better tomorrow: Do hope and optimism serve as protective factors against discrimination in Latinx immigrants?

ABSTRACT The criminalization of Latinx immigration combined with anti-immigrant rhetoric from politicians and media outlets, have led to an array of poor psychosocial outcomes for those who arrive and remain within the United States. Using an Ecological Risk and Resilience Framework, this paper examines the relationship between perceived discrimination within the recent anti-immigration social context and the mental health of Latino immigrants in Arizona. In addition, this study examined whether hope and optimism serve as protective factors against the negative mental health impacts of discrimination among men and women. Data were drawn from a sample of adult Latinx immigrants (n = 421) living in Arizona. Results indicated that participants who reported a greater discrimination reported significantly higher symptoms of 1) depression, 2) anxiety, and 3) stress. In addition, a moderation analysis was conducted to examine whether hope and optimism serve as protective factors against the negative mental health impacts of discrimination. The results indicated hope and optimism moderated the effect of discrimination for males’ reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. However, for females, hope and optimism moderated the effect of discrimination for depression, but not on anxiety and stress. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Latinx Immigrants' Legal Concerns About SARS-CoV-2 Testing and COVID-19 Diagnosis and Treatment.

Immigration concerns can deter immigrants from utilizing healthcare services. We examined Latinx immigrants’ immigration concerns related to COVID-19 testing and treatment. A multi-state sample of 336 US Latinx immigrants (documented and undocumented) completed a cross-sectional online survey in Spanish. Factor analysis informed the construction of a COVID-19 Immigration Concerns Scale. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine associations between the scale and indices of perceived immigration risk and healthcare access and utilization. Concerns clustered around two factors: (1) providers’ release of information to immigration authorities and drawing government attention; and (2) eligibility for COVID-19 services and the immigration ramifications of using these. The regression equation highlighted strong associations between these and perceived instability of immigration laws and enforcement concerns after controlling for healthcare access and utilization. COVID-19-related immigration concerns were substantial and multifaceted. Perceived instability of laws was strongly related to concerns but remains understudied.

Social service providers navigating the rapid transition to telehealth with Latinx immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic radically altered social service provision with significant public health implications as social services often target society's most vulnerable with preventative health services addressing social determinants of health. Social service providers serve as crucial linkages to services for low-income Latinx immigrants who face substantial barriers to health and social care. However, little is known regarding how social service providers working with Latinx immigrants navigated service delivery and the rapid transition to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This mixed-methods (QUAL-quant; capitalization denotes primacy) study used survey data collected from April 2020 to October 2020 with Latinx immigrant serving as social service providers in the Maryland-Washington, DC, region. Social ecological theory guided the analysis of narrative data and the integration of quantitative data with qualitative themes. Participants (N = 41) were majority women (85.4%), identified as Latinx (48.6%) and elucidated themes related to their transition to telehealth, including adjusting from in-person to telehealth, barriers to telehealth implementation, impact on quality of services, working to prevent clients' disconnection to social services, and work-related stress and satisfaction. Through the firsthand experiences of frontline social service providers, results reveal conditions of scarcity endemic in social services for Latinx immigrants that preexisted the pandemic and became further constrained during a time of heightened health and social need. Further, critical insights regarding the use of remote modalities with vulnerable populations (language minorities and immigrants) can be instructive in the development of improved and accessible telehealth and remote programming and services for Latinx immigrants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Lessons learned from undocumented Latinx immigrants: How to build resilience and overcome distress in the face of adversity.

Living under chronic uncertainty, fear, and isolation is the experience of many undocumented immigrants particularly under the recent sociopolitical climate. Yet, despite facing chronic adversity and an uncertain future, undocumented immigrants are highly resilient. This paper draws upon the clinical and research expertise of leading Latinx psychologists working with diverse undocumented communities across the United States. Qualitative data from seven focus groups with undocumented Latinxs and 15 in-depth interviews with key informants were used to complement clinical insights to identify and highlight strategies of undocumented Latinxs that promote their resilience. Overall, six primary strategies emerged including cognitive reframing, behavioral adaptability, acceptance, sociability, courage, and ancestral or cultural pride. Within each of these primary strategies, two-to-five additional facets emerged. We also identified the positive effects of the aforementioned strategies, including the fostering of meaning, purpose, and hope. Our findings are essential to address biases and stigmatization against undocumented immigrants, as well as to inform strength-based interventions and services, as well as culturally and contextually sensitive resources. Health services providers working with undocumented Latinxs can identify and build on strengths in their patients to demonstrate accurate cultural understanding and also to support resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Immigrant Latinx men’s perspectives on domestic violence

ABSTRACT Historically, most practice-informed research and research-informed practice have focused on domestic violence (DV) victimization. These explanations are often preferred by practitioners, advocates, and policymakers due to their straightforwardness and simplicity. However, an understanding of DV perpetration is enhanced when we look through the multiple lenses of culture and society, relationship, and gender. The objective of this exploratory research is to document the beliefs and experiences of nine immigrant Latino men regarding domestic violence. The study employed descriptive phenomenology to gain a deeper understanding of participants’ lived experiences from their perspectives and in their words. An integrated, ecological framework guided the contributions of culture, relationships, and personal characteristics when understanding the Latino men’s beliefs and experiences of DV. The patriarchal gender roles of “machismo” and domination are common themes. Participants discuss the conflicts of immigrants operating their gendered roles in a country which has laws against physical enforcement of these roles. The participants recommend those who encounter Latinx DV consider three key factors: (1) socialization of male children and young men, (2) dignity and worth of young girls and women, and (3) clear communication, respect, and mutual understanding between spouses and extended family members.

Depressive symptoms among recent Latinx immigrants in South Florida: The role of premigration trauma and stress, postimmigration stress, and gender.

In the past decade, recent Latinx immigrants (RLIs) from South and Central America have arrived in the United States seeking asylum from countries affected by war, political upheaval, and high crime and poverty rates. The premigration stress and trauma they experience are further compounded by postimmigration stress due to discrimination, lack of access to health care, and financial instability. Evidence suggests RLIs who experience such stress and trauma have an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms. We examined the combined effect of premigration stress and trauma and postimmigration stress on postimmigration depressive symptoms; we also explored the moderating effect of gender. Hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses were conducted on a cross-sectional sample of 540 young adult RLIs (age range: 18-34 years, 50.2% men) in South Florida. Higher levels of postimmigration stress, β=.37, p<.001, were associated with increased postimmigration depressive symptoms. No significant associations emerged between premigration stress and trauma and postimmigration depressive symptoms. Moderation analyses revealed no significant interaction effect of gender. Post hoc analyses indicated that country/region of origin moderated the relation between postimmigration stress and depressive symptoms such that the association was stronger among Venezuelan, β=1.51,p<.001; other South American, β=1.06,p<.001; and Central American/Mexican RLIs, β=1.38,p<.001, compared with Caribbean RLIs, β=.45,p=.122. These findings suggest that interventions focused on addressing postimmigration stress early in the immigration process can potentially lower subsequent depressive symptoms among RLIs.

“Why can’t I Have the Office Jobs?”: Immigrant Latinx Transgender Peoples’ Experiences with Seeking Employment

Research has documented the experiences of transgender people in seeking employment. To date, no scholarship has explored the experiences of immigrant Latinx transgender people seeking employment in the United States. Using an intersectionality framework, the present study aimed to uncover the experiences of immigrant Latinx transgender people as they sought employment in the United States. A community sample of 18 immigrant Latinx transgender people from a large metropolitan city in Florida engaged in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed five themes related to participants’ experiences seeking employment, including: (1) discrimination, (2) limited options, (3) positive experiences, (4) momentary de-transition, and (5) disability benefits as financial relief. Future directions such as exploring ways in which immigrant Latinx transgender people resist discrimination while seeking job opportunities are discussed. Implications for practice and advocacy such as advocating for equitable employment policies that acknowledge the intersectional experiences of this community are presented.

Work Primacy and the Social Incorporation of Unaccompanied, Undocumented Latinx Youth in the United States

Abstract This study investigates the social incorporation of unaccompanied, undocumented Latinx youth workers as they come of age in the United States. Based on research with undocumented Central American and Mexican young adults who grew up as unaccompanied minors in Los Angeles, California, the data reveal that the pressures of financial obligations to families in the sending country and their own sobrevivencia (survival) in the United States, along with limited financial and social resource and mobility, produce a social incorporation trajectory shaped by the primacy of work. Work primacy conditions youth’s educational opportunities, community embeddedness, and family relationships and limits unaccompanied, undocumented youth’s ability to establish and maintain social networks with consequences for their social incorporation. The precarious occupations within the secondary labor market that are characterized by long hours, low wages, labor market restrictions, and unsafe and unsanitary work conditions limit opportunities for socioeconomic mobility for all youth. Women and Indigenous youth are distinctly affected by work primacy. This research advances our understanding of immigrant youth’s lives by examining how institutional context, familial obligations across borders, and limited ethnic networks play a role in shaping the incorporation experiences of unaccompanied, undocumented Latinx immigrants as they come of age in the United States.

Immigrant Legal Status Disparities in Health Among First- and One-point-five-Generation Latinx Immigrants in California

Restrictive US immigration laws and law enforcement undermine immigrant health by generating fear and stress, disrupting families and communities, and eroding social and economic wellbeing. The inequality and stress created by immigration law and law enforcement may also generate disparities in health among immigrants with different legal statuses. However, existing research does not find consistent evidence of immigrant legal status disparities in health, possibly because it does not disaggregate immigrants by generation, defined by age at migration. Immigration and life course theory suggest that the health consequences of non-citizen status may be greater among 1.5-generation immigrants, who grew up in the same society that denies them formal membership, than among the 1st generation, who immigrated as adolescents or adults. In this study, we examine whether there are legal status disparities in health within and between the 1st generation and the 1.5 generation of 23,288 Latinx immigrant adults interviewed in the 2005–2017 waves of the California Health Interview Survey. We find evidence of legal status disparities in heart disease within the 1st generation and for high blood pressure and diabetes within the 1.5 generation. Non-citizens have higher rates of poor self-rated health and distress within both generations. Socioeconomic disadvantage and limited access to care largely account for the worse health of legally disadvantaged 1st- and 1.5-generation Latinx adults in California.

Immigrant Gnosis: Making Work in the United States

This essay proposes a reflection on the curatorial work I did for the exhibition Comunidades Visibles: The Materiality of Migration, exhibited between February and May 2021, at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, in Buffalo, New York. The exhibition brought together artworks by first- or second-generation immigrant Latinx artists. Each combines materials and techniques from their country of origin, from other colonized places, or from their present context with everyday or art historical references.&#x0D;

"What American dream is this?": The effect of Trump's presidency on immigrant Latinx transgender people.

Little research has explored how transgender people are impacted by the behaviors, statements, and policies of the Trump administration. To date no scholarship has explored the experiences of immigrant Latinx transgender people during the current political climate. Using a critical intersectional qualitative framework, the present study aimed to investigate how immigrant Latinx transgender people are impacted by Trump's administration. A community sample of 15 immigrant Latinx transgender people from a large metropolitan city in Florida participated in semistructured interviews to explore their experiences since the election of Donald Trump. Thematic analysis revealed seven themes related to experiences of oppression, including: (a) perceived increase in societal discrimination and violence, (b) perception of law enforcement surveillance, discrimination, and violence, (c) mental health toll, (d) decreased access to resources and opportunities, (e) perception of Trump's uninformed, hostile, and aggressive behavior, (f) rollback of discrimination protection, and (g) passing and conforming to norms. In addition, five themes emerged about participants' sources of coping and strength in response to the current political climate, including: (a) pride and resilience, (b) hope for a better future, (c) religion and spirituality, (d) family and community support, and (d) short-term avoidance as a form of resistance. Psychological practices and advocacy efforts such as using evidence-based practices to effectively work with immigrant Latinx transgender people are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).