A qualitative exploration of Latinx immigrant young adults’ experiences with anti-immigration policies and the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Anti-immigration policies have been on the rise over the past four decades. The present study explored how anti-immigration policies and rhetoric impacted the psychological and material experiences of Latinx immigrant young adults across legal statuses. Furthermore, the present study examined the ways the COVID-19 pandemic was experienced by Latinx immigrant young adults. We analyzed semi-structured interviews with 30 immigrant young adults (ages 18–25; M = 20.93; SD = 2.03) from Latin America. Results suggested that restrictive immigration policies and the threat of deportation produced stress and interrupted key developmental milestones among Latinx immigrant young adults. Results also show how the vulnerabilities experienced during young adulthood were further compounded by the pandemic. Findings can inform policy and practice aimed at supporting immigrant young adults during the transition to adulthood within the context of heightened anti-immigration policies and the pandemic.

Acknowledgments

We thank the immigrant young adults from Latin America who shared their time and stories. Thank you to undergraduate research assistants Frank Valdez, Guadalupe Pinto, and Johanna Moncada Sosa for their contributions in helping create recruitment documents, translate materials, and post flyers in the surrounding community.

Data availability statement

Data can be made available upon request to the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Material conditions refer to the way structural forces shape opportunities that matter for people’s everyday lives including but not limited to money, food, safe jobs, education, and leisure.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Grants-in-Aid and the University of Virginia Americas Center/Centro de las Americas Graduate Fellowship.