Fear of Deportation, the Effects of Legal Status at Home and Work, and Psychological Distress Among Unauthorized U.S. Migrants

摘要

The purpose of this thesis is to employ the 2007 Boston Metropolitan & 2012 Los Angeles County Immigration Health & Legal Status Survey data to estimate the association of psychological distress with (1) fear of being deported and (2) interaction with law enforcement and other government officials among unauthorized Brazilian, Dominican and Mexican migrants residing in the United States. Specifically, controlling for factors in various other life domains (e.g., home, neighborhood, work) and individual characteristics and behaviors, I hypothesize that prior stressful engagement with government officials, particularly law enforcement personnel, is positively associated with serious psychological distress (SPD). Alternatively, I hypothesize that the level of trust unauthorized migrants have towards local police is negatively associated with distress. In the final analysis, logistic regression results confirm that having been asked about one's legal status is positively, and having a high level of trust in police is negatively, associated with distress.