UC Irvine-led study examines the effect of restrictive immigration policies on women

In a study published in the Journal BMC Public Health, corresponding author, Alana LeBrón, PhD, associate professor of health, society, and behavior at the UC Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, examined how Mexican-born women living in Detroit navigate restrictive immigration policies that hinder access to health-promoting resources and care for their well-being.

This research is particularly relevant given the current climate of anti-immigrant rhetoric and increasingly restrictive immigration policies. The study highlights the intricate relationship between immigration policies, social networks, and access to health resources. It emphasizes the need for inclusive policies that promote the health of immigrant communities.

LeBrón and the team found that the women reported facing a complex network of lengthy processes that used racial markers to determine their legal status and eligibility for health-promoting resources. Due to these racialized assumptions, many women faced difficulties in proving their eligibility for healthcare and other services, which added stress and uncertainty to their lives. 

“Given the current hostile climate around immigration policies and their impacts on Latiné communities, we thought it was important to revisit these data sets with a lens towards individual and collective strategies to care for themselves, family, and community,” said LeBron who also has an appointment with the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies at the UC Irvine School of Social Sciences. “We hope these findings will help us to move beyond uni-directional assessments of impacts of exclusionary immigration and immigrant policies.” 

Click here to read more about the study findings and implications in our current anti-immigrant climate.