Family Separation Due to Deportation: Effects and Interventions

Problem Overview and Etiology

Innumerable children experience the trauma of separation from their families — particularly their parents — owing to deportation. For many years, little attention was paid to their suffering or their demands. Migrants from different parts of the globe are drawn to the United States hoping for a secure future and an improved life. A number of families and individuals risk much, including their lives, to acquire passage into the country. Because it is difficult to maintain a precise record of undocumented individuals, authorities can only estimate the number of illegal migrants within the nation. According to official projections, approximately 11.2 million illegal immigrants reside in the U.S. (Passel & Cohn, 2011). According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report, countless illegal migrants are deported each year (Sanchez, 2011).

This removal process varies and may be completed within weeks or may drag on for years. About 50% of detained illegal migrants voluntarily leave the country within a few weeks of their detention, while the rest remain in Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) custody and are held in DHS facilities, where they may remain for months or even years. Individuals who strive to stay and fight to delay deportation and change their circumstances are typically those who have families — particularly children — in the U.S. (Nazarian, 2014).

A majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. have families with children born in the United States (Gonzalez, 2012). In the first half of 2011, government authorities deported no fewer than 46,000 illegal immigrants with American-born children; an additional 21,860 were not deported but left the country when asked to do so (Gonzalez, 2012). Enhanced deportation activity resulted in over 5,100 children being placed in foster care; within another five years, this figure was expected to triple (Sanchez, 2011; Applied Research Center, 2011).

Effects of Deportation on Family Systems

DHS statistics from 2008 reported the deportation of 358,886 foreign migrants in that year; moreover, more than one million families have suffered separation due to deportation since 1997. This figure is alarming, as family division adversely affects both the emotional health and the financial condition of families. Deportation, specifically, can significantly disrupt the familismo of Latino families. Familismo refers to the attitudes, family structures, and behaviors that operate within an extended family (Gonzalez & Consoli, 2012). Numerous studies demonstrate that Latino individuals who sensed support or belongingness showed greater resilience compared to those who experienced less of it. Other research has found that familismo serves as a source of motivation in times of adversity, improves academic effort, predicts decreased school absenteeism, and is associated with higher problem-solving capacity and feelings of self-worth. These findings underscore how valuable families are to Latinos and how belongingness and strong familial bonds function as key factors in everyday life. Additionally, familismo acts as a safeguard against risky behaviors such as alcohol consumption, and also encourages improved resilience and academic performance.

Overall, families affected by deportation were tormented by anxiety for the deported member and by fear that immigration officials would return. Their emotions and entire lives were disrupted. The predominant emotion among all such displaced families was sadness; individual members, however, showed varying reactions depending somewhat on their age and existing environmental stressors. Children generally exhibited a greater number of physical symptoms, whereas older family members experienced stress or anger (Gonzalez & Consoli, 2012).

Cleveland, Kronick, and Rousseau (2012), in testimony before a parliamentary standing committee in Canada, argued that separating children from parents and sending them to foster care facilities while parents are detained is far more harmful to children's psychological well-being than detention itself, as it leads to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), behavioral problems, developmental delays, and suicidal ideation in both the short and long term. Children of illegal immigrants are greatly disadvantaged, whether or not they directly experience the trauma of a family member's deportation (Gonzales, Fabrett, & Knight, 2009). These disadvantages manifest in various ways. The constant fear of family separation creates immense stress and alters how children perceive their lives, interact with others, and define themselves (Gonzales, Fabrett, & Knight, 2009).

A qualitative study conducted in 2012 by Dreby involving 80 households — comprising 110 children and 91 parents — included interviews with individuals from families in which a member had been deported. Dreby found that the most common and central concern among interviewed parents was the dread of being separated from their children; further, the threat of deportation profoundly affected most children and altered their self-perception. A majority of children reported chronic psychological trauma resulting from a parent's deportation, combined with chronic anxiety stemming from the ongoing risk of deportation. Many children were wary of police, associating law enforcement with separation and deportation (Nazarian, 2014).

Coping, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class

Only a limited body of literature addresses family separations caused by deportation and their effects on children's education. Generally, immigration-related separations among Latino families — and their impact on young people — have been examined in cases in which parents voluntarily migrate to the U.S., leaving their families, including children, behind. This body of literature has documented the effects of mother-child separation, including severe maternal depression and destabilized bonding that subsequently disrupts important parenting systems. Other studies have revealed that child-parent separations, regardless of cause, disturb healthy family processes.

One study of 385 adolescents originally from Central America, Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and China (Suarez-Orozco, Todorova, & Louie, 2002) reported that children separated from parents showed a greater likelihood of developing depressive symptoms than children who had experienced no separation. Mitrani, Mena, Santisteban, and Muir (2008) found that Hispanic adolescents with serious behavioral problems — such as drug use — had been separated from their mothers for extended periods because those mothers had migrated to the U.S., leaving them in the care of relatives. Carbonell (2005) studied undocumented migrants in a work setting and found that immigrants pay a heavy emotional price — including PTSD, insomnia, paranoia, and recurrent nightmares — when they seek to build a future in America. The effects of immigration on poor Mexican-American migrant families and their children can be lasting, characterized by chronic stressors and developmental problems that damage family relationships.

The findings of one study with 143 participants revealed that Latino migrants anxious about deportation faced increased risks of negative health and emotional outcomes, poor health status, and stress from extrafamilial factors (Cavazos-Rehg, Zayas, & Spitznagel, 2007). Research results indicated that Latino migrants worried about deportation may limit their use of healthcare facilities even when in need (Orozco & Dunlap, 2010).

Both migrant children and children left behind in their home countries by immigrants in the U.S. represent a distinctly vulnerable group. Parental migration can have devastating effects on children — it has been shown to threaten the long-term development and health of Caribbean adolescents. Children affected by migration encounter various challenges related to healthcare and education, and also suffer multiple psychosocial problems. A number of children left behind experience depression, poor self-esteem causing behavioral problems, and heightened risk of low school performance and interrupted schooling. A unique problem for immigrant children is their lack of access to adequate education and health facilities, particularly if they are undocumented (Bakker, 2009). Another potential barrier is birth registration, particularly for Haitian children living outside Haiti. Moreover, both migrant children and those left behind face elevated risks of exploitation and abuse, including child trafficking, child labor, and sexual abuse. According to a Health and Family Life Education initiative evaluation, 18% of respondents (average age 14.7 years) had been forced into sexual activity. The likelihood of abuse increases considerably when children lose parental protection.

The gender of migrating parents has varying impacts on family and child safety, which can be understood through Caribbean societal gender roles. Abuse — whether neglect, physical, sexual, or emotional — is more likely when the child's mother migrates to another country (Bakker, 2009), whereas a father's migration typically provides better child protection, though it may leave the family with few financial resources. The responsibility of providing for the family generally falls on the spouse, mother, or sister, as the migrated male typically remits minimal funds. In some cases, mothers enter into short-term secondary unions to compensate for lost companionship and income. This can considerably impact girls' safety, as their vulnerability to sexual maltreatment increases at the hands of their mothers' temporary companions. Furthermore, girls may respond to their father's absence by seeking attention from adult males, increasing their risk of sexual exploitation (Bakker, 2009).

Conclusion and Policy Implications

The topic of illegal immigrant deportation from America has been insufficiently researched despite the considerable attention that immigration-related problems receive in media and political discourse. The present research contributes to the literature through an analysis of how families in which one or more members have been deported are affected by that experience. Five key themes characterize this phenomenon. Respondents reported powerful negative emotions — predominantly anxiety and sadness — following the detention or deportation of a family member. These emotions persisted for years, or until the deported individual was able to return. Other impacts were also observed in behavior and lifestyle. Most commonly, the deported individual's role as a source of support or financial provision determined how the remaining family members were affected and what new roles they would need to assume. These findings are consistent with earlier research on recently migrated youth from Mexico, Central America, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and China, which showed that children separated from parents displayed more symptoms of depression than children who had not experienced the trauma of separation during migration (Gonzalez & Consoli, 2012).

Despite deportation's negative effects, the concept of familismo represents a source of strength. A central priority for those who hold this value is supporting other family members following a deportation and maintaining cohesion despite the physical distance. For instance, other family members may serve as motivators, encouraging a mother to resist depression and to emotionally support her children. Still others assume greater responsibilities for providing for the family. In some cases, participants also turned to their extended families for support and effectively received financial assistance and shelter (Gonzalez & Consoli, 2012).

It is imperative that service providers be aware of the circumstances faced by the children of deported individuals and be prepared to work with their families. For instance, if a child is not receiving sufficient attention because of a parent's absence, additional support, referrals, or resource information may be needed from the child's school, such as an after-school intervention program. In one case described in the literature, after the head of the household was deported, the wife faced financial hardship and sought government assistance after receiving relevant information from friends. It is hoped that findings such as these can help inform migration policy, given that existing laws have an immense negative impact on numerous Latino immigrant families throughout the United States (Gonzalez & Consoli, 2012).