Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In the Trump administration we have seen increased attention on immigration enforcement and deportations. This climate is creating fear and stress for immigrants which can ultimately lead to negative health outcomes. Given the rise of immigration roundup and surveillance, little attention, has focused on how Mexican immigrants are profiled about their citizenship and how worrying about being deported, can ultimately lead to poor mental health. This manuscript uses racial profiling and stress theory to examine the how being viewed as undocumented affects the mental health of foreign born Mexicans. Using an innovative survey funded by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (n=500), we asked these adults about worrying about being deported, their physical and mental health as well as various indicators of stress. We also asked these respondents how accurately they think non-Hispanic/Latino people can guess your immigration status. We estimate a series of ordered logistic and logistic regressions to understand how others view respondent’s immigration status is affecting if they worry about being deported. We then use mediation analysis to explain how the stress of being worried about being deported influences physical and mental health outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest that the more accurate respondents believe non-Latinos can guess their immigration status the higher likelihood of reporting poor health, holding all else constant. We conclude that stress is the underlying mechanism between worrying about being deported and poor health outcomes. The implication and significance of this work has tremendous impacts for policy makers, health service providers and researchers interested in reducing health disparities among minority populations.