Living Under the Shadows: Experiences of Latino Immigrant Families at Risk for Deportation

Objective The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of Latino youth and their parents who are at risk for detainment or deportation to gain an in‐depth understanding of the impact of the risk for parental deportation on psychosocial well‐being. Background Children born in the United States to foreign‐born parents comprise approximately 27% of the U.S. population. Approximately 5.7 million U.S.‐born children live with parents without legal residency documentation, and nearly 500,000 children had at least one parent detained or deported over a 2‐year period. There is a high risk for negative child and family outcomes associated with parental deportation. Method A constructivist grounded theory design was used to complete semistructured interviews with families (N = 16) at risk for parental deportation. A quantitative trauma assessment was used to triangulate qualitative findings. Results Results indicated four core themes: (a) parents and youth experience emotional distress associated with the risk of deportation, (b) parents and youth experience injustices associated with the threat of deportation, (c) children experience their freedoms as conditional, and (d) children suffer. Conclusions Concepts from ambiguous loss and developmental trauma may aid our understanding of family emotional distress associated with the risk for deportation and improve family services aimed to promote family well‐being. Implications Family scholar‐advocate and scholar‐activist approaches, in which we use our positions of privilege to educate others about the needs of underserved families, may be helpful for families at‐risk for deportation.