Deportation and Detention: Addressing the Psychosocial Impact on Migrant Youth and Families
Event Summary
On September 28, 2018, the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago convened Deportation and Detention: Addressing the Psychosocial Impact on Migrant Youth and Families, a public forum examining the human, legal, and community consequences of U.S. immigration enforcement policies.
The event brought together scholars, clinicians, advocates, and community leaders to document how detention, deportation, and family separation affect the mental health, development, and well-being of migrant children and families. Through keynote remarks, panel discussions, and community testimony, speakers highlighted the cumulative trauma experienced before migration, during transit, and after arrival—often compounded by detention conditions and prolonged legal uncertainty.
The keynote address centered the lived realities of migrant children and parents, drawing on clinical experience, research, and advocacy work within immigration detention systems. Panelists expanded this analysis by situating detention within broader structures of criminalization, racialized enforcement, labor exploitation, and privatized incarceration. Speakers emphasized that family separation is not an isolated or recent phenomenon, but one embedded in decades of policy decisions that frame migration through punishment rather than protection.
A second panel focused on the psychosocial and developmental impacts of detention and deportation, particularly during early childhood. Clinicians, pediatric specialists, and community practitioners described increased rates of anxiety, depression, developmental regression, and toxic stress among children, alongside the destabilizing effects on parenting, schooling, and community trust. Presenters also highlighted culturally grounded, community-based interventions that promote healing, resilience, and family stability.
The forum concluded with a call to action: to center humane, evidence-based alternatives to detention; expand access to legal and mental health services; and elevate the leadership and voices of directly impacted communities. By bridging research, practice, and advocacy, the event underscored the urgent need for immigration policies that uphold dignity, protect families, and recognize migration as a human rights issue.