Interactions with Law Enforcement and the Mental Health of Latino Immigrants

Background & Purpose:

Racism and nativism have led to anti-immigration policies being passed in the United States (US). Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes local law enforcement officers to inquire about an individual’s immigration status and to detain the individual while ICE makes a deportation determination (Coon, 2017). Previous studies have found an increase distrust for law enforcement as a result of 287(g) agreements (Wong et al., 2021). However, less is known about the mental health impacts of 287(g) agreements on Latino immigrants. The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationship between interactions with law enforcement officers as a result of immigration status and the mental health Latino immigrants.

Methodology:

Data for this study were drawn from a study of adult Latino immigrants (n=421) living in Arizona. The sample for this study consisted of 250 self-identified women (59.4%) and 171 self-identified men (40.6%)., with a mean age of 36; the mean number of years in the US was 17; and 65.4% of participants indicated their economic situation was “average.” Interactions with Law Enforcement was a 6-item scale (α= .72) based on participants being stopped or detained by local law enforcement officers as a result of their immigration status. Using the DAS-21 (Daza, Novy, Stanley, & Averill, 2002), the dependent variables in this study focused on participants’ self-reported symptoms of Depression (7-item scale, α= .91), Anxiety (7-item scale, α= .95), and Stress (7-item scale α= .96).

Multivariate OLS linear regressions examined the relationship between interactions with law enforcement as a result of immigration status and the mental health of foreign born Latinos, (controlling for gender, age, socioeconomic status, level of education, US citizenship status, and years in the US).

Results:

The results indicated that Latino immigrants who reported greater interactions with law enforcement as a result of their immigration status were also significantly more likely to report higher symptoms of: 1) Anxiety (p < .05, CI(95%) .050, .565); 2) Stress (p < .01, CI(95%) .143, .817); 3) There was no significant relationships between interactions with law enforcement and symptoms of Depression.

Conclusions & Implications:

Participants who reported more interactions with law enforcement officials as a result of their immigration status reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and stress. The increased mental health issues as a result of interactions with law enforcement officials may have deleterious consequences for Latino immigrant families and communities due to untreated mental health issues (Doshi et al., 2020). Although future research is needed with larger samples of Latino immigrants, social service agencies must make greater efforts to outreach to Latino immigrant communities in order to adequately address their mental health needs. Social work research must continue to develop culturally grounded mental health interventions that use Latino cultural strengths to address mental health issues. Social workers must also use findings such as these to continue to advocate against the criminalization of immigration, including eliminating 287(g) agreements and other anti-immigrant policies so that Latino immigrant families do not have to live in fear.