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Immigration and Family Separation
Instances of family separation often occur during the immigration process. Families
separating while immigrating can have a negative effect on those involved. Texts by Joanna
Dreby, Jacqueline Hagan, Karl Eschbach, Nestor Rodriguez, Julia Preston, Dana Rusch, Karina
Reyes, ​Cerola Suarez-Orozco, Irina LG Todorova, and Josephine Louie ​analyze the effects of
family separation and explain how and why separations occurs, and it’s affects on mental health
and family relationships.
Joanna Dreby’s paper “U.S. immigration policy and family separation: The consequences
for children's well-being” (2015) ​is about the impact of family separation as a result of
immigration on a child’s well being. ​She claims that ​“U.S. immigration policy shapes children’s
emotional well-being via two distinct mechanisms: the expectation of parental sacrifice and the
fears of state intervention” (p. 245) and backs up this argument with data from studies she
conducted with Mexican migrant families over ten years. Her goal in writing this paper is to
educate people on immigration and how it can affect families, specifically children.
This paper is a great source because Dreby has an extensive background in this field of
research, including a PhD in sociology and nearly twenty years of researching Mexican
immigrants (Joanna Dreby, n.d.). She uses good examples to explain first why separation
happens and then it’s effect on children. It’s well organized and in a way that makes sense.
“Transnational Family Life” of Hagan, Eschbach, and Rodriguez’s “​U.S. Deportation
Policy, Family Separation, and Circular Migration” (2008) focuses on how deportation can cause
family separation. It gives two examples different from Dreby’s on how families can be
separated. Hagan et al. also include a table with quantitative data as a visual aid to provide
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evidence for their research. In this section of their paper, they claim that “Except in unusual
cases… most international migration involves some form of family separation” (p. 77). The
purpose of this section is to show a relationship between deportation and family separation.
This paper is good because it states facts from their research and analyzes their data
without attaching any emotion to it. It teaches people that there is more to deportation than just
relocation and provides data to people who read the International Migration Review. Also, the
authors are all well educated and have experience in the topic researched. Hagan has a PhD in
sociology and teaches sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Williams,
2013). Rodriguez received his PhD and is a professor at the University of Texas and researches
immigration as wells as Eschbach (Government Salaries Explored, 2015; ​Néstor P. Rodríguez,
n.d.​).
“​Examining the Effects of Mexican Serial Migration and Family Separations on
Acculturative Stress, Depression, and Family Functioning”, is a research paper by Dana Rusch
and Karina Reyes (2013) published in the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. It highlights
the effects of migration on mental health. They claim that “…parents’ interpretation of the
migration experience has important implications for mental health, and by extension, the
family’s adjustment to life in the United States” (p. 142.). The purpose of this paper is to
“examine the role of serial migration in predicting depression, acculturative stress, and family
functioning in an urban community sample of Mexican immigrant parents” (p. 142). It was
written for those who research anything related to behavioral science.
This source is great because the authors have an extensive background in what they’re
writing about. Rusch earned her PhD in Psychology and Clinical Psychology and is a professor
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at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where Reyes is also a psychology professor. They both
focus on minorities in their research (Dana Rusch Ph.D, n.d.; Karina Reyes, n.d.). In this paper,
they clearly explain and analyze their results. A weakness of this source they list is the sample
size being too small and unequal distribution of participants in both research groups, making it
hard to infer statistical significance. They explain that the participants volunteered and were not
randomly selected, so this study cannot necessarily apply to a general population. They also
admit that high levels of acculturative stress could be due to confounding variables not addressed
in this study (Reyes & Rusch, p.151).
“Making Up For Lost Time: The Experience of Separation and Reunification Among
Immigrant Families” is a research paper that explains how family separation can affect
relationships and mental health. Authors Cerola Suarez-Orozco, Irina LG Todorova, and
Josephine Louie (2002) provide and analyze data from the Longitudinal Immigration Student
Adaptation Study in order to provide examples on how children experience family separation,
it’s effects on the separated family, and factors that can cause separation (p. 629). They claim
that “Though many families are involved in these transnational formulations, there has
heretofore been little sense of the prevalence of these forms of family separations, nor of the
effects on family relations” (p. 625). The main goal of this paper is to present research
documenting how child immigrants have adapted after arriving and their responses to questions
about separation and reunification with family (p. 629).
Irena Todorova received her PhD and is a health psychologist and professor at
Northeastern University (Irina L.G. Todorova, PhD, n.d.). Josephine Louie received an A.B. and
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EdD from Harvard. She has extensive experience conducting research in education and social
science with a background in different research methods (Josephine Louie, n.d.).
Published in the Family Process journal, this paper was written for anyone who
researched about family issues. This is a good source because Suarez-Orozco et al. clearly
outline their research methods and analyze the data. They provide many quotes from the
interviews they conducted, which directly relays information rather than summarizes what the
participant said. In their study though, there was no randomization, so the results from their
interviews cannot apply to a general population.
The New York Times article “Tears Flow and Spirits Sag, but Some Immigrants Look to
November With Determination” by Julia Preston (2016) talks about immigrants’ reaction to the
Supreme Court ruling denying protection to illegal immigrants. She includes quotes from
interviews in which people described why they need protection from deportation. This article
also uses photos as a visual aid to provide a face for each quote and show that illegal immigrants
are people just like everyone else. Preston’s goal is to explain why illegal immigrants want
protection and allow their voices to be heard.
Preston received her B.A. in Latin American studies from Yale (Julia Preston, n.d.).
Immigration has been the topic of many of her The New York Times articles for over a decade.
Her audience for this article is anyone who has access to this newspaper, not necessarily
researchers or experts in the field. This source is okay because it includes the voices of those
being represented in this article. It’s not bias, but Preston’s language does favor the protection of
illegal immigrants.
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These sources are all similar in that they analyze data from interviews to talk about
immigration and family separation, but what aspect of family separation they focus on is what
makes them different. Dreby talks about how the health and well being of a child can be affected
through separation and touches on different ways families can be separated. Hagan et al. focus
on the ways families can be separated. Reyes and Rusch emphasize the effect of family
separation on mental health. Suarez-Orozco et al.write about how separation affects relationships
and mention it’s effect on mental health. Preston’s article highlights separation’s effect on
relationships. All sources gathered some form of data from studies or interviews, but show
different aspects of to what extent separation can affect a family.
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References
Dana Rusch, Ph.D. (n.d.). ​Department of psychiatry college of medicine.​ Retrieved from
http://www.psych.uic.edu/department-of-psychiatry-faculty-list/154-about-us/directory/fa
culty/555-dana-rusch-ph-d
Dreby, J. (2015). U.S. immigration policy and family separation: The consequences for
children's
well-being. Social Science & Medicine, 132, 245-251. ​doi:
10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.08.041
Government Salaries Explorer. (2015). ​The Texas Tribune.​ Retrieved from
https://salaries.texastribune.org/the-university-of-texas-medical-branch-at-galveston/karleschbach/626340/
Hagan, J., Eschbach, K., & Rodriguez, N. (2008). U.S. Deportation Policy, Family Separation,
and Circular Migration. International Migration Review, 42(1), 76-78. doi:
10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00114.x
Irina L.G. Todorova, PhD. (n.d.). ​Institute on urban health research and practice.​ Retrieved
from
http://www.northeastern.edu/iuhrp/about/people/affiliated-people/irina-todorova/
Joanna Dreby. (n.d.). ​College of arts and sciences. ​Retrieved from
http://www.albany.edu/sociology/Joanna-Dreby.php
Josephine Louie. (n.d.) ​Learning and teaching.​ Retrieved from
http://ltd.edc.org/people/josephine-louie
Julia Preston. (n.d.). ​Ask a reporter.​ Retrieved from
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http://events.nytimes.com/learning/students/ask_reporters/Julia_Preston.html
Karina Reyes. (n.d.). ​College of liberal arts and sciences.​ Retrieved from
https://psch.uic.edu/psychology/people/faculty/karina-reyes
Néstor P. Rodríguez. (n.d.). ​Department of Sociology​. Retrieved from
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/sociology/faculty/npr62
Preston, J. (2016, June 23). Tears flow and spirits sag, but some immigrants look to november
with determination. The New York Times. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/tears-flow-and-spirits-sag-but-some-immigrants
-look-to-november-with-determination.html?_r=0
Rusch, D. & Reyes, K. (2013). Examining the Effects of Mexican Serial Migration and
Family Separations on Acculturative Stress, Depression, and Family Functioning.
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 35(2), 140-151. doi:
10.1177/0739986312467292
Suarez-Orozco, C., Todorova, I., & Louie, J. (2002). Making Up For Lost Time: The Experience
of Separation and Reunification Among Immigrant Families. ​Family Process,​ ​41​(4),
625-643. Retrieved from:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=42b6dd37-860f-44cd-bbea-9
4a47490510c%40sessionmgr4007&vid=1&hid=4207
Williams, B. (2013). Jacqueline Hagan. ​Department of Sociology​. Retrieved from
http://sociology.unc.edu/people-page/jacqueline-hagan/