Deportation and the Traumatizing of a Generation

By | June 18, 2020
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With less than five weeks to go before welcoming a second child, the patient sat in my exam room in tears. By all accounts, this was a routine appointment at the end of a routine pregnancy. Except on this particular day, clutching family photos from their recent baby shower, the patient shared with me that her husband had been forcibly removed from home just days prior by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Their young son witnessed the arrest. Traumatized by the events and stricken with fear of his own deportation, the son refused to go to school.

In the midst of what should have been a euphoric occasion, my patient faced the very real and unexpected prospect of raising two children on her own, the practical concerns of finances and drawn-out legal challenges, and the deeply painful absence of her husband.

I sat across from her—with my years of medical training and experience—helpless. There was no treatment for the kind of pain she was experiencing. I also sat with the knowledge that all of this was affecting her fetus in ways we may not observe for years.

For decades, researchers have examined the impact of maternal stress on fetal development. From increased preterm birth to lower birth weights, we know that a mother’s mental state affects the well-being and development of her fetus. When entire groups are targeted and victimized, that trauma leaves lasting health markers.

The data bears this out. In one study, preterm birth increased among foreign-born Latina women with Mexican or Central American ancestry after the 2016 US presidential election. And in another study undertaken after an immigration raid, infants born to Latina mothers had a 24% greater risk of low birth weight after the raid compared with the same period a year earlier; no analogous change occurred among white, non-Hispanic infants.

Long-term, third trimester maternal stress is also a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). And increased cortisol levels increase the risks of cardiovascular, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and psychological disorders in adulthood. The impact of maternal stress on fetal development is clear.

This doesn’t begin to address the very real trauma that children of detained and deported adults experience on a daily basis. These children live in constant fear, stunting brain development and negatively affecting children’s long-term health.

With thousands of deportations regularly occurring across the country and tireless threats of deportation reverberating from the highest levels of government, the United States is fomenting an avoidable health crisis. If our nation cannot muster the political will or compassion to take action to address myopic and reckless immigration policies now, we’re going to be paying for our inaction for generations to come.

Acknowledgements: The author thanks Elizabeth Métraux for her contributions to this piece.

Rebekah Rollston

Rebekah Rollston

Rebekah L. Rollston, MD, MPH, is a Family Medicine Physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Faculty of the Massachusetts General Hospital Rural Health Leadership Fellowship (in partnership with the Indian Health Service Rosebud Hospital), Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Medical School Primary Care Review, and Head of Research at Bicycle Health, a digital health startup that provides biopsychosocial treatment of opioid use disorder via telehealth. She earned her Medical Degree from East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine (in the Rural Primary Care Track) and her Master of Public Health (MPH) from The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Dr. Rollston’s professional interests focus on social determinants of health & health equity, gender-based violence, sexual & reproductive health, addiction medicine, rural health, homelessness & supportive housing, and immigrant health.