PSYCHOSOCIAL IMPACT

The effects of deportation are felt by individuals, families, and communities. Many Southeast Asian deported individuals are sent back to countries they have never known, without the support necessary to ensure a good quality of life. Individuals returning often face issues of homelessness, substance use, mental illness, employment and language competency. Family members left behind suffer multiple psychosocial consequences. Separation of a child from a parent due to deportation is associated with economic hardship, housing instability, and food insecurity. Family members are often forced to take on new roles to make ends meet. Remaining caregivers must often work longer hours, leaving little time for contact with children; older children often become primary caregivers of younger siblings and/or must work to support the family, impacting school performance and retention. Following deportation of a family member, children demonstrate numerous emotional and behavioral challenges, such as eating and sleeping changes, anxiety, sadness, anger, and withdrawal. Even if the family is ultimately reunited, the consequences of their forced family separation often remain. Older adults who are dependent on their adult children to provide emotional and financial supports are often left to manage on their own, often time medical issues are neglected; and/or become primary caregivers of the children of the deported individuals. Older adults who fled their countries due to war and genocide may be re-traumatized with the deportation of their children to a country they risk their life escaping from.