Detainer Requests Issued by ICE and Fair/Poor Self-Rated Health Among Latines in the United States, 2017 – 2020

Immigration policy and enforcement is particularly salient for the Latine community; over two-thirds of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico or Central America.5 Prior research suggests that can create a “chilling effect” among Latine communities, leading to apprehension of being targeted by immigration authorities, mistrust of government programs, under-enrollment in public assistance programs, and foregone care.6 Collectively, stress, foregone care, and under-enrollment in public assistance programs may worsen the self-rated health of the Latine population. No prior research has directly assessed the relationship between immigration enforcement and self-rated health among Latines. We addressed this gap using administrative data on the issuance of I-247 detainer requests and self-rated health among Latine participants in a nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional telephone survey. We hypothesized that Latines in areas with greater exposure to immigration enforcement would have higher odds of reporting fair/poor health relative to those in areas with less enforcement.