“The solitude absorbs and it oppresses”: ‘Illegality’ and its implications on Latino immigrant day laborers' social isolation, loneliness and health

US Immigration Policies Pose Threat to Health Security During COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Where there is fear of being targeted, immigrants choose isolation, which causes undue suffering because of distrust and leads to public health data silence. 7 This lack of data is in no small part the result of immigration policies that pose a direct threat to public health efforts-and, therefore, national health security efforts-to mitigate and contain a deadly pandemic. In an infectious disease outbreak emergency, the maintenance of health security relies on the effective deployment of public health mediation strategies to characterize and contain the spread of the outbreak, including population monitoring of test positivity and contact tracing efforts.…”

“…2,3 We contribute a representative case report from the undercounted and officially silent population of people who lack lawful immigration status in the United States; who are overwhelmingly Latino and employed in highexposure industries including farming, construction, groundskeeping, and food production; and who are at high risk of health disparities including contracting COVID-19. [4][5][6][7] We connect these observations to the disproportionately high rates of hospitalization and death among people with COVID-19 who identified as Hispanic/Latino. We propose that this disparity in morbidity and mortality is in part a result of US federal immigration policies in place during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, causing people without lawful documentation status to disproportionately avoid accessing COVID-19 testing and other public services.…”

The opioid epidemic among the Latino population in California

“…These counties are disproportionally representative of agricultural and husbandry-based economies with potentially large workforces of Mexican-origin immigrants ( Flores, 2016 ). Unlike those in urban counties, Latinos in these communities may be living in socially isolated and economically marginalized contexts with less access to culturally tailored healthcare, drug treatment, and harm reduction services ( Negi et al., 2021 , Stone et al., 2019 ). For instance, all three counties mentioned above report having no methadone clinics, and only Lake county has a syringe exchange program ( California Department of Public Health, 2021 , Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrtation, 2021 ).…”

Hazard and Injury Experiences of Latino Day Laborers in Houston, Texas

“…Latino day laborers are hired through informal, temporary work arrangements (Brown et al, 2002; Ordóñez, 2015; US National Academies, 2020), which makes them vulnerable to having their employment rights violated. This includes failure by employers to comply with safety regulations to prevent job-related injuries and illnesses and violations of wage and hour laws (Fernández-Esquer et al, 2020; Galemba & Kuhn, 2021; Hill et al, 2019; Negi et al, 2021; Plankey-Videla & Franco, 2022; Valdez et al, 2018; Valenzuela et al, 2006). Latino day laborers also experience harassment and racism from employers and the public.…”