Migrant Mental Health
Challenges faced by many migrants and asylum seekers in the U.S. are currently
critical. Such individuals often are fleeing horrific conditions in their countries of origin,
including war, poverty, starvation, and violence. The process of seeking asylum was
lengthy and fraught prior to 2025. The conditions of detention camps, particularly the
separation of children from their families, have received considerable public attention.
The situation has worsened this year, with ICE carrying out mass deportations and
gaining access to churches and medical facilities that were previously protected spaces.
This has created an atmosphere of fear not only for those without legal status but also
for individuals who have taken the appropriate legal steps to remain in the country.
In addition to these concerns, several practices currently in place have been deemed
unconstitutional by lower federal courts in part because of Fourth Amendment
protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, absence of probable cause
and use of ICE administrative warrants which are not issued by a judge. [1] Further, on
January 20, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security issued a directive expanding
the law enforcement powers of ICE and allowing them to enter protected areas such as
shelters, schools, churches, and medical facilities, [2] endangering both people seeking
services and those providing them.
Policies that criminalize clinicians, social workers, educators, and others for providing
care, support, or information to undocumented individuals are especially troubling.
These measures discourage essential services and threaten the ethical responsibilities
of professionals. Compounding these structural harms is the failure to adequately
address the psychiatric consequences of immigration-related trauma, including post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidality, and toxic stress, particularly in vulnerable
children. [3]
The American Association for Community Psychiatry (AACP) aligns with the American
Psychiatric Association’s long-standing opposition to laws, policies, and practices that
erode the dignity of and respect for members of immigrant communities, including but
not limited to the following:
1. Prolonged detention, inhumane detention conditions, or separation of families
2. Obstruction of access to legal services, including mass deportations carried out
without due process
3. Lack of provision of needed health care
4. The use of medical records or clinical notes against an individual’s interest during
any phase of immigration
5. The for-profit detention of migrants
6. Enforcement tactics violating constitutional protections such as searches and
seizures without warrants
7. The presence of immigration enforcement agents in healthcare settings,
undermining patient safety and public health
8. Targeting of sanctuary spaces that traditionally provide safety and refuge
9. Policies that criminalize health and human service providers for serving
undocumented individuals
10. Systemic neglect of mental health impacts resulting from immigration-related
trauma
References
1. Peter Sean Brown v Richard Ramsay. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA. CASE NO. 18-10279-CV-WILLIAMS.
05/30/25
2. Exec. Order No. 14,165, 90 Fed. Reg. 8467 (Jan. 30, 2025).
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/30/2025-02015/securing-our-
borders
3. Kaplan, H., Cabot, A., & Ubel, P. (2025). Health care in an evolving immigration
landscape — Providing care while upholding the law. The New England Journal
of Medicine, 392(21), 2084–2086. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2502570
