US: “Remain in Mexico” Program Harming Children

Human Rights Watch, 02/12/2020; Read the full report here

A United States government program exposes children, as well as their parents, seeking asylum to serious risk of assault, mistreatment, and trauma while waiting for their cases to be heard, Human Rights Watch said today in a joint investigation report.

Human Rights Watch, working with Stanford University’s Human Rights in Trauma Mental Health Program and Willamette University’s Child and Family Advocacy Clinic, found that the US Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, commonly known as “Remain in Mexico,” compelled families with children to wait in unsafe environments in Mexico for many months. Parents said that prolonged immigration court proceedings, fear of being incarcerated, and uncertainty about the future took a toll on their family’s health, safety, and well-being. Many described changes in their children’s behavior, saying they became more anxious or depressed after US authorities sent them to Mexico to await their hearings.

Seeking Asylum: Part 1, Part 2

U.S. Immigration Policy Center, 08/28/2019; Read the full reports here: Part 1 and Part 2

Executive Summary: The U.S. Immigration Policy Center (USIPC) at UC San Diego conducts and supports rigorous social science research to advance understanding of the foundations and consequences of U.S. immigration policy. In April 2019, the USIPC partnered with the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN). The SDRRN is a coalition of human rights and service organizations, attorneys, and community leaders dedicated to aiding immigrants and their families in the San Diego border region. The SDRRN operates a shelter that provides assistance to asylum seekers and their families who have been admitted into the U.S. From October 2018 through June 2019, the SDRRN assisted approximately 7,300 asylum-seeking heads of households. While some of these individuals have sought asylum in the U.S. alone, the large majority have been families. Altogether, the SDRRN has assisted over 17,000 asylum seekers and their families. This includes 7,900 children five years or younger. The USIPC independently analyzed intake data for the universe of these individuals, focusing on intake forms administered by the SDRRN to the asylum-seeking heads of households.

Children on the Run: Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America and Mexico and the need for International Protection

A study conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Regional Office for the United States and Caribbean

Executive Summaries available in English and Spanish

UNHCR’s latest report, Children on the Run, unveils the humanitarian impact of the situation by analyzing the reasons that 404 unaccompanied children gave to a team of researchers for why they left their homes and makes recommendations for a way forward.

Effects of non-health-targeted policies on migrant health: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Sol Pía Juárez, PhD, Helena Honkaniemi MS, Andrea C Dunlavy, PhD, Robert W. Aldridge, PhD, Mauricio L. Barreto, MD, Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi, PhD, Mikael Rostila, PhD, 04/2019, The Lancet Global Health, Read the full text here

Government policies can strongly influence migrants' health. Using a Health in All Policies approach, we systematically reviewed evidence on the impact of public policies outside of the health-care system on migrant health.

President Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration and Refugees

Center for Migration Studies, 01/2019, Read full summary here

President Trump signed three executive orders the week of January 23 which offend the dignity and threaten the rights of immigrants and refugees both in the United States and globally. On January 25 at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Trump signed executive orders on border security and interior enforcement. On January 27, he signed an executive order at the Pentagon on refugees and visa holders from designated nations.

Notes from the Field: Mumps in Detention Facilities that House Detained Migrants

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 08/30/2019, Read full report here

On October 12, 2018, five confirmed cases of mumps among migrants who had been transferred between two detention facilities were reported by the facilities to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS). By December 11, eight Texas detention facilities and six facilities in five other states had reported 67 mumps cases to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Health Service Corps (IHSC) or local health departments. On December 12, TDSHS contacted CDC to discuss mumps control in detention facilities and facilitate communication with IHSC. During January 4–17, 2019, six more state health departments reported new cases in detention facilities, which prompted CDC and IHSC to launch a coordinated national outbreak response.

Mexican Migration Project

Princeton University, Visit MMP website here

The Mexican Migration Project (MMP) was created in 1982 by an interdisciplinary team of researchers to further our understanding of the complex process of Mexican migration to the United States. The project is a binational research effort co-directed by Jorge Durand, professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Guadalajara (Mexico), and Douglas S. Massey, professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, with a joint appointment in the Woodrow Wilson School, at Princeton University (US).

Immigrant Health: Anchoring Public Health Practice in a Justice Framework

Barbara Ferrer PhD, MPH, MEd, 06/13/2019, American Journal of Public Health, Read full text here

The nexus between policy actions and immigrant health is central in this issue of AJPH in two articles by Young and Wallace (p. 1171) and Rothstein and Coughlin (p. 1179), serving as a reminder of the need for public health practitioners to adopt a framework that explicitly connects the dimensions of social determinants of health with population health outcomes. Such a framework incorporates a root cause analysis to elucidate the factors contributing to observed health results, including the centrality of economic, social, and environmental conditions.