Immigration Detention as Racialized Violence |
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Family separation and detention produce documented, long-term trauma in children and adults.
Immigration attorneys and human rights defenders face secondary trauma and role overload.
Racialized violations of due process undermine the foundation of safe immigration proceedings.
When Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo were killed by ICE in recent operations, their deaths made visible what immigration advocates know: America's immigration system is not a neutral legal apparatus, but a tool of white supremacy. The problem isn't merely that people are detained without due process, a psychological and legal necessity, but that people of color, particularly Latin American and other non-white immigrants, are detained, dehumanized, and in some cases killed through enforcement mechanisms built on racial hierarchy. This system produces measurable, lasting psychological harm rooted in racialized trauma.
Four Insights From Psychological Science
1. Racialized Detention and Family Separation Create Compounded Trauma
Research consistently demonstrates that family separation produces long-term negative outcomes in children. Research examining family disruption finds that children separated from primary caregivers experienced far reaching negative effects, including increased risk for mental health problems, poor social functioning, disrupted stress reactivity, and mortality (Bouza et al., 2018). And when family separation is inflicted on communities already experiencing racialized surveillance and state violence, the trauma is compounded. Studies of detained immigrant populations show elevated rates of suicidality, self-harm, and psychological decompensation, with more severe outcomes in racially-marginalized groups (Rojas-Flores et al., 2017).
The psychological mechanism is rooted in both individual trauma and collective racialized harm. Uncertainty paired with loss of control and separation from protective relationships activates the body's threat-detection system. When this activation is prolonged, as in detention, it becomes embedded in the nervous system (van der Kolk et al., 2005). For children, these disruptions interrupt critical developmental milestones. But children of color experience this within a context of intergenerational racialized trauma (Lorenzo‐Blanco et al., 2017), understanding that their families are being targeted not for actions but for identity.
2. Deliberate Denial of Due Process as a Tool of Racial Control
Psychological science on disclosure shows that withholding information about one's circumstances increases anxiety and erodes trust (Rimé,........