The Trump administration’s plan to deport millions of immigrants living in the country without permission is falling far short of its initial goals in its first few weeks.
But there has been an increase in immigration raids in multiple cities, including Los Angeles and Miami, since Trump took office.
After Trump’s inauguration, rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents roaming the streets or showing up at churches and schools have spread on social media and messaging apps, sending waves of panic in immigrant communities from coast to coast.
When I share my research on the effects of U.S. immigration policies, I find that most people intuitively understand how being deported can upend someone’s life.
In fact, research shows that deportation, and the risk of deportation, impacts more than just the person who is deported.
Deporting immigrants often separates individuals from their families, exiles them to countries that don’t feel like home, and leaves them poor, with few job prospects.
Immigrants who are deported also face social stigmas that lead to further isolation and mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety and risk of suicide.
A family matter
Immigrants in the country without permission tend to belong to mixed-immigration-status families, meaning that at least one family member has legal permission to be in the country or has citizenship.
In some cases, mixed-status families feel pressure to leave the U.S. together if one family member is deported.
Researchers call this phenomenon “de facto deportation.” It frequently affects young, U.S.-born children whose parents are deported.
Legal scholars argue that deporting the parents of these young U.S. citizens violates these children’s citizenship rights. Though these children are citizens, their parents’ deportations push them out of the country and away from the lives they would have had in the U.S.
In other cases, families separate when a mother, father or other adult guardian is deported. This is especially true for immigrants who are deported to dangerous places. Families are also likely to separate if a family member requires specialized medical care for a disability or chronic illness.
But it is not just actual deportations that cause harm.
The fear of deportation
Even when immigrants do not face an immediate risk of deportation, the way they live their lives is shaped by the threat of removal.
In hostile political climates, including the current moment in the U.S., immigrants feel the risk of deportation acutely.
Some researchers call the fear of deportation “deportability.” This feeling has a chilling effect, discouraging immigrants from the everyday activities they would otherwise do.
So far, immigrants’ fear is likely disproportionate to the risk of deportation. But the threat looms so large that immigrants and their families have upended their lives.
Business owners, teachers and religious leaders across the country have noticed immigrants’ glaring absence in neighborhoods that are usually bustling and now feel deserted.
In some cases, immigrants are keeping their children home from school. Others avoid going to doctor’s appointments or delay going to the hospital.
Hostility toward immigrants also has a chilling effect on cultural expression.
Research shows that Latino immigrants who fear deportation or anti-immigrant prejudice feel coerced to assimilate. They avoid speaking Spanish or their Indigenous language, like Quechua or Náhuatl, in public, and may even hesitate to teach it to their own children.
Similarly, it can feel dangerous to play music or partake in cultural traditions.
Spillover effects
Research has also found that the threat of deportation makes immigrants hesitant to report dangerous conditions at work. Since immigrants are overrepresented in dangerous industries, like construction and meatpacking, this can lead to a higher risk of being injured or even dying on the job.
Because local law enforcement agencies increasingly cooperate with federal immigration authorities, immigrants may also avoid going to the police – even when they are victims of violent crimes.
Even in cities where local law enforcement agencies refuse to work closely with ICE, the perception that they might be creates fear in immigrant communities and leads people to underutilize public programs and services.
People who have permission to be in the country are also afraid
The fear of immigration enforcement can also extend to a person who speaks a foreign language, is a person of color, or otherwise seems like they might be in the country without permission.
Perhaps the most striking example of this consists of recent reports that Native American citizens living in Southwest states like Arizona have been increasingly questioned by ICE. In response, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has advised people to carry proof of their U.S. citizenship.
Nonwhite U.S. citizens’ fears of being deported are not unprecedented.
In the 1950s, many U.S. citizens of Mexican ancestry were deported under President Dwight Eisenhower’s mass deportation operation. Trump credits Eisenhower’s program, officially called “Operation Wetback,” after the racist slur, for inspiring his current mass deportation plans.
More than half a century later, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that between 2015 and 2020, ICE likely arrested 674 U.S. citizens, detaining 121 and deporting 70 of them.
A sense of despair
Not surprisingly, anti-immigrant policies and threats can elicit feelings of hopelessness among immigrants. The fear of deportation can lead to significant mental health problems for immigrants and their loved ones, ranging from conditions like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to a loss of trust in others and social isolation.
Children experience fear and confusion about the future of their lives and that of their families.
Hopelessness can lead to immigrants leaving the country on their own accord. This can happen because immigrants see no future for themselves in the U.S.
Similarly, immigrants who are detained by government authorities may agree to voluntary departure orders rather than fighting to remain in the country.
Some consequences of the fear of deportation and anti-immigrant hostility are easy to see, like when children miss school.
Others – delaying doctor’s appointments, going hungry instead of going to the food bank, tolerating abuse instead of seeking help – are harder to observe, and their negative effects may not be evident for years.
is a Research Fellow, Center for Racial Justice, Ford School of Public Policy at University of Michigan.
