A Child in Distress: The Effects of Workplace Raids on Families and Children

Megan Ondeck* and Cynthia Gorman, Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Geography/Geology (Behavioral & Social Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies 

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), workplace raids are an integral tool to deter illegal immigration to the U.S. in an attempt to eliminate pull factors of illegal employment but often, raids result in the removal of a breadwinning parent from a family. This study investigates the effects of workplace raids on families and children. Findings will be considered in relation to ICE raids and their impact on immigrants living in West Virginia. Workplace raids raise different community responses to border enforcement and immigration experiences. The interplay between the legal systems and industries that experience workplace raids is largely due to state legislation regarding refugees and immigrants. Along with affecting broader communities home to the industries that are raided, workplace raids impact the families of those detained. Many detained workers are part of mixed status families. Furthermore, American born children of undocumented immigrants have become caught up in deportation operations. By reviewing secondary literature in multiple disciplines, as well as analyzing congressional hearings and national legislation concerning refugees and immigration, this study seeks to understand the impact of workplace raids on families, especially children. It has been found that children face economic hardship, emotional distress, and educational setbacks after one or more of their bread-winning parents are detained. By gaining a better understanding of the effects raids place on immigrants and immigrant children nationally, we can see how they relate or do not relate to WV immigrants and their families. 

Funding: 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course