Health Risks and Family Protection for Immigrants: A Conversation With Amanda Venta

Introduction

The influx of Latino immigrant families, particularly from Central America, has brought new challenges tied to traumatic migration experiences, with children being a major concern. This policy brief is based on a conversation with Amanda Venta, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychology at the University of Houston, who is at the forefront of research in this area. On March 26, 2024, Venta met with members of the Baker Institute Migration Initiative to discuss implications of the high prevalence of trauma among immigrant families and children. The conversation focused on the detrimental effects of family separation on the well-being of children and adolescents.

This brief outlines three key areas of Venta’s research:

1. The contextualization of immigrant arrivals to the U.S. from Central America.
2. The health risks faced by Central American immigrants.
3. The impact of migration on family well-being.

Policy recommendations to address the high rates of family separation and trauma experienced by migrants based on this research were also discussed.

Contextualizing Central American Immigration

Over the past few decades, migration patterns have shifted, specifically among Central American countries. While Mexico has traditionally been viewed as a primary source of migration to the U.S., immigration from Central America’s Northern Triangle — Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala — has grown considerably in recent times. Regional gang and cartel violence, coupled with high rates of homicide and extortion, have propelled migration to the U.S. from Central America, as individuals seek safety and security.

Another important shift was the increase of unaccompanied immigrant minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2013 and 2014. Under the Obama administration, their detention conditions received heightened media attention, with widely circulated images of children wrapped in emergency foil blankets. Although news coverage has waned, the numbers continued to rise during both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, with a brief dip in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the situation at the border remains challenging. Many of these immigrant children are hoping to be reunited with loved ones who are already in the U.S. However, the additional hardships that these children face on their journey to the U.S. have yet to be addressed.

The situation of these immigrant children and youth is often complicated by immigration policies such as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as “Remain in Mexico.” Implemented by the Trump administration in 2019, MPP required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico, often for long periods and with no community ties or support, while awaiting their U.S. asylum appointments. During this wait, migrants have faced trauma and victimization, including cartel abductions and sexual violence, worsening their psychological stress.

Health Risks of Immigration

Venta’s research sheds light on the severe hardships Latino immigrant families may endure during the migration process, including the emotional toll on children who remain in their home country when one or both parents migrate to the U.S. in search of safety and work. As a result, these children are often left in the care of an older grandparent or extended family member and experience a profound sense of loss and distress due to parental separation. This drives many unaccompanied migrant children to seek reunification.

Venta and her research team conducted a study at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border, which revealed alarmingly high rates of trauma exposure among Latino youth. In a sample of 103 immigrant children, the vast majority of whom were from the Northern Triangle, nearly 39% had witnessed community violence, such as a shooting or assault, and 25% had witnessed violence against a family member. Additionally, a large number of the children (60%) in the study showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that were severe enough to be considered clinically significant. While current immigration literature focuses heavily upon migrant parents rather than children or families as a unit, these cases point to a significant need for trauma interventions for immigrant children.

Venta’s research on immigrant parents also demonstrated that they endured alarmingly high levels of trauma. Nearly 70% of interviewed parents had experienced crime-related trauma, 95% had endured a natural disaster, and 46% had suffered physical or sexual assault. When tested for post-traumatic stress, these immigrant parents scored, on average, more than double the threshold used to diagnose PTSD in the general U.S. population. A common finding for both children and immigrant parents was that trauma exposure alone did not affect health — experiencing a traumatic event did not directly cause issues like trouble working, sleeping, or pain. Instead, PTSD was the primary driver of negative health consequences.

A study on adolescent immigrants in Houston, who had recently arrived from Central America, revealed that they were also impacted by high rates of trauma exposure and associated symptoms. In this two-year longitudinal study, Venta found that 64% of adolescents had been exposed to community violence, 45% had witnessed violence against a family member, and 56% had experienced a serious accident or injury. Of the surveyed adolescent participants, 60% met the criteria for clinically significant symptoms of PTSD.

Impact of Migration on Family Well-Being

The traumatic experiences faced by immigrant families are compounded by the separation that often occurs at the border. Family separation is a significant source of trauma for immigrant youth, and Venta’s research emphasizes the need for prompt family reunification to mitigate the effects of this trauma. Over 30% of adolescents from the two-year study experienced family separation due to the migration of either one or both parents, with 31% having been separated from their father, 14% from their mother, and 17% from both. Of these children, 25% reported talking to their parents once a month or less, while around 25% reported living alone or without a caregiver. The study found that reunited adolescents had been separated from their parents for an average of nearly seven years from their mothers and six years from their fathers.

Attachment to one’s parents has been shown to have large protective effects against mental health problems later in life, demonstrating the importance of family reunification for the health of immigrant children and families. Immigration policies that focus on reducing the risk of family separation and supporting family reunification are crucial to protect the well-being of immigrant youth and families.

Policy Recommendations

To address these challenges, the following policy recommendations aim to mitigate the psychological and social burdens faced by immigrant populations seeking asylum in the U.S.:

• Contextually-informed mental health services and trauma-informed resources are needed to address the high rates of PTSD at immigration detention centers and post-immigration. Providing training for law enforcement officers and immigration officials who interact with immigrant populations is key to the early recognition of signs of trauma and for prevention of further risk and traumatization.
• Rapid reunification of separated families should be prioritized, as the protective benefits of parent-child attachment on overall family well-being are well-documented. Necessary policy measures to keep immigrant families together include expediting the process for family-based asylum claims and increasing due-process protections. Additional funding for programs that support family reunification can also be explored.
• Community and school-based reforms in the U.S. should be implemented to improve the mental health of immigrant children and adolescents and promote long-term integration. Once they have been admitted into the U.S, school and community-based connections can help reduce the long-term impacts of trauma and support resilience in immigrant youth and families.
• Reduction of exposure to violence and exploitation for migrants who are waiting in Mexico to apply for asylum in the U.S. is also crucial. MPP, and more recently the use of the CBP One app, has required migrants to wait in Mexico for extended periods of time, increasing their exposure to violence and exploitation. This underscores the need for reform in the adjudication of asylum cases, which could range from allowing virtual asylum hearings to collaborating with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that can provide resources and assist in reporting human-rights violations. 

Finally, it is important to address the root causes of migration in countries of origin. Policies that improve economic, educational, and public safety conditions in these nations could help reduce the number of migrants seeking to leave. However, this should be seen as a long-term goal, complemented by policies that address immigrant needs in the short- and medium-term.

This publication was produced in collaboration with Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Wherever feasible, the material was reviewed by external experts prior to its release. Any errors are the responsibility of the author(s) alone.

This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.