The Impact of Punitive Immigrant Laws on the Health of Latina/o Populations

Vargas, Edward D.; Sánchez, Gabriel R.; Juárez, Melina

doi:10.1111/polp.12203

Cited by 32 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…In light of current shortages, high turnover rates, low retention rates, 1,9,24 growing demand for direct care workers, 11 and immigrants' already disproportionate role in filling such jobs, policies that curtail immigration are likely to compromise the availability of care. Moreover, the anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies that restrict immigration threaten the health and well-being of immigrants [25][26][27] who are entrusted with the care of the nation's elderly and disabled people.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Care For America’s Elderly And Disabled People Relies On Immigrant Labor

et al. 2019

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As the US wrestles with immigration policy and caring for an aging population, data on immigrants' role as health care and long-term care workers can inform both debates. Previous studies have examined immigrants' role as health care and direct care workers (nursing, home health, and personal care aides) but not that of immigrants hired by private households or nonmedical facilities such as senior housing to assist elderly and disabled people or unauthorized immigrants' role in providing these services. Using nationally representative data, we found that in 2017 immigrants accounted for 18.2 percent of health care workers and 23.5 percent of formal and nonformal long-term care sector workers. More than one-quarter (27.5 percent) of direct care workers and 30.3 percent of nursing home housekeeping and maintenance workers were immigrants. Although legal noncitizen immigrants accounted for 5.2 percent of the US population, they made up 9.0 percent of direct care workers. Naturalized citizens, 6.8 percent of the US population, accounted for 13.9 percent of direct care workers. In light of the current and projected shortage of health care and direct care workers, our finding that immigrants fill a disproportionate share of such jobs suggests that policies curtailing immigration will likely compromise the availability of care for elderly and disabled Americans. A s the US elderly population grows, health care workforce shortages (which already limit care) are expected to increase in the coming decades. The Institute of Medicine projects that 3.5 million additional health care workers will be needed by 2030. 1 Currently, immigrants fill health care workforce shortages, 2,3 providing disproportionate amounts of care overall and particularly for key shortage roles such as rural physicians. 4,5 Immigrant health care workers are, on average, more educated than US-born workers, 2 and they often work at lower professional levels in the US because of lack of certification or licensure. They work nontraditional shifts that are hard to fill (such as nights and weekends), 6 and they bring linguistic and cultural diversity to address the needs of patients of varied ethnic backgrounds. 7,8 The size of the elderly population is expected to double by 2050, 1 raising concern that longterm care workers will be in particularly short supply. Direct care workers-nursing, psychiatric, home health, and personal care aides-are the primary providers of paid hands-on care for more than thirteen million elderly and disabled Americans. 9 These workers help elderly and disabled people live at home 1,9,10 (the preferred setting for most people) by providing assistance with daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and eating. They also help elderly and disabled people in nursing or psychiatric facilities when liv

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Care For America’s Elderly And Disabled People Relies On Immigrant Labor

et al. 2019

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“…To measure state-level public sentiments about immigrants, Morey et al and Van Hook et al utilized 5 items from the General Social Survey (GSS) regarding attitudes towards increasing immigration, attitudes towards undocumented/unauthorized immigration, and beliefs about immigrants’ effects on job opportunities, crime, and the economy (79, 127). The stress and fear associated with undocumented/unauthorized status and the risk of deportation is not only prevalent among those without legal-residency status but also among their friends and family who experience what has been termed “vicarious illegality” and among all persons whose legal presence in the U.S. is questioned because of their race/ethnicity (12, 43, 134). Thus, studies utilizing these methods help to identify the broader, spillover effects of restrictive policies and anti-immigrant sentiments on groups and individuals not specifically targeted by such policies.…”

Section: Identification and Measurement Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policies of Exclusion: Implications for the Health of Immigrants and Their Children

Perreira

Pedroza

2019

Annu. Rev. Public Health

238

227

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Immigrants to the U.S. face the challenge of adapting to life in a new country with a different culture, norms, and social institutions. These social institutions include an array of federal, state, and municipal laws and administrative practices that can either facilitate or hinder immigrant integration. Guided by a structural framework for understanding social determinants of health, this review examines the literature on immigration-related policies that influence the health of immigrants. We begin with an overview of the pathways through which policies can influence health. We then discuss empirical research strategies for identifying the effects of policies on health. Next, we review evidence from federal welfare and health reforms, local immigration enforcement activities, and state and local immigrant integration policies. Our conclusion highlights the gaps in existing research and the steps that can be taken to better promote the health of immigrants and, consequently, their economic and social integration.

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“…Immigration policy also shapes immigrants’ health (Acevedo-Garcia and Almeida 2012). Latinas/os living in states with low- or medium-level punitive immigration laws report better self-rated health than immigrants in states with high levels of anti-immigrant laws (Vargas et al 2017). And the deleterious health consequences associated with interior immigration enforcement are multigenerational (Rabin 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increasingly harsh U.S. immigration policies have amplified the level of threat for the well-being of immigrants and their families, especially for Latinas/os who are the preeminent targets of enforcement today. Scholarship has pointed to the consequences of anti-immigration policies on immigrants’ health (Asad and Clair 2018; Vargas, Sanchez, and Júarez 2017). Research also finds Latinas/os encounter structural barriers to access health care (Jacquez et al 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Legal Violence, Health, and Access to Care: Latina Immigrants in Rural and Urban Kansas

Cervantes

Menjívar

2020

J Health Soc Behav

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Using interviews and ethnography started in 2016 in rural and urban Kansas, we examine the consequences of an amplified immigration enforcement combined with a local limited health care infrastructure that reproduce legal violence manifesting on Latina immigrants’ health, access to care, and community participation. We highlight the conditions rooted in place that generate short- and long-term negative impacts for Latina immigrants’ health. Fear and anxiety about the deportation of themselves and their family members make them ill and also generate apprehension about contacting medical institutions, driving, and spending time in public spaces. These circumstances coalesce in women’s lives to block access to medical care and undermine women’s roles in their communities. Following gendered expectations, women turn to their informal networks to seek health care for their families. In the context that the enforcement regime has created, these ties can turn exploitative.

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The Impact of Punitive Immigrant Laws on the Health of Latina/o Populations

Cited by 32 publications

References 49 publications

Care For America’s Elderly And Disabled People Relies On Immigrant Labor

Care For America’s Elderly And Disabled People Relies On Immigrant Labor

Policies of Exclusion: Implications for the Health of Immigrants and Their Children

Legal Violence, Health, and Access to Care: Latina Immigrants in Rural and Urban Kansas

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