Image obtained at: toddbigelow.photoshelter.com

The Impact of Immigrant Life on Undocumented Youth

By: Jesus Gomez

Immigrant life in America is without a doubt one of the most difficult to live and the outcomes affect the families in undocumented communities.

This is especially true for immigrant parents and their undocumented children who have lived in the United States much of their life. They face huge challenges which have a direct impact on their mental health and wellbeing. These children grow up facing the fact that at any moment they and their family could be deported.

Thousands of young immigrants grow up facing major discrimination and live without important privileges like good health care service. They cope with anxiety and depression, while at the same time attending to their family’s daily struggle to simply get by and survive. One of those being Aurora University Sophomore, Hernan Ramirez, 19, who says “When I first arrived in the U.S. with my parents I was 8 and to this day, I can still recall the first years and they were terrible, I hated it here and I wished we were back in our home in Mexico, anywhere was better than here during that time.”

As much as it may seem overwhelmingly impossible—to an ambitious young immigrant—they push through it. All at the price of their developing mental health and with profound effects on their social and academic performance in life.

The lack of legal status young immigrants are faced with affects the communities they live in. When individuals are mentally or physically unhealthy, they are unable to fully contribute as well-functioning members of society. The result is that the U.S. is much better off and has more to gain from allowing undocumented young students to play their role and do their part as legal citizens.