By: Christiana Best Giacomini, Ph.D.
February 25, 2025
As an immigrant who has lived in the United States for the past fifty years, I have witnessed how the changing immigration landscape has profoundly impacted individuals, families, and communities. The current executive orders that have resulted in raids, detentions, and mass deportations have created significant stressors for many immigrants, their families, and U.S. citizens who are part of mixed-status families. The heightened uncertainty, systemic challenges, and ongoing struggles of the immigration executive orders have created fear and psychological instability, which contributes to anxiety, depression, and toxic stress. The burden of navigating these complexities – personally and as an advocate – reinforces the need for self-care, resilience, and community support in the face of adversity.
One such executive order, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, has had a significant impact. Recently, I learned about a Trinidadian woman, a long-time U.S. permanent resident, who traveled to Jamaica to celebrate her 50th birthday with friends. Upon her return, she was stopped and detained by immigration authorities. As a result, she had to secure legal representation at a cost exceeding $40,000—an overwhelming financial burden. Her detention separated her from her family, disrupted her ability to work, and jeopardized her housing stability, as she remains in custody. Her story is just one of many that highlight the devastating impact of today’s increasingly restrictive immigration policies and enforcement practices, which affect long-term residents and working immigrants.
This woman’s experience converges with the more important issue of the immigration industrial complex. Did she threaten the United States, or was she caught up in the broader net of increasingly punitive immigration enforcement? Her case raises urgent questions: Are the U.S. government’s executive orders effectively criminalizing returning to the country for legal permanent residents? Should all green card holders now live in fear of traveling overseas?
When law-abiding, hard-working individuals who have contributed to their communities for years are suddenly detained, saddled with excessive legal fees, and put at risk of losing everything, is that a law enforcement issue or harassment? This policy suggests that immigration authorities may use their power to instill fear and instability, disproportionately targeting immigrants of color rather than supporting justice or national security.
Protecting the American People Against Invasion also authorizes the U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents to conduct raids. As a result, these raids have widespread implications for not only immigrant families and communities but also U.S. citizens alike. Because of the fear these actions engender, it causes many in the immigrant community to avoid accessing essential services like healthcare and education. In turn, this could lead to a public health crisis because some individuals may avoid seeking medical treatment out of fear of being arrested, which could exacerbate preventable illnesses and contribute to the spread of communicable diseases. Schools, which should be safe, inclusive environments for learning and development, may experience declining attendance as families keep their children home to avoid the risk of family separation.
Additionally, raids, detentions, and deportations have an economic impact. They disrupt the economy by targeting immigrant working families who contribute to the U.S. labor market, including those in agriculture, construction, healthcare, and service sectors. Mass detention and deportations could create labor shortages, increase consumer costs, and weaken economies that depend on immigrant workers.
Beyond the economic and public health implications, these enforcement actions erode fundamental human rights, including dignity, equality, and family unity. Raiding places historically regarded as off-limits – such as schools, churches, and funerals diminishes trust in law enforcement and government institutions. The psychological toll on children, many of whom are U.S. citizens, is profound as they experience the trauma of family separation and uncertainty about their futures.
Ultimately, these raids, detentions, and mass deportations do not enhance national security; instead, they negatively affect communities, weaken social cohesion, and create long-term harm to children, families, and American society. How do these policies and practices impact you, your neighbors, communities, families, fellow worshipers, classmates, co-workers, and the populations you work with? Moreover, who will be there to speak out for us if we don’t speak out now and we remain complicit?
Dr Christiana Best is an Associate Professor at the University of Saint Joseph, Connecticut
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