This Land Is Our Land: Exploring the Impact of U.S. Immigration Policies on Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the history of anti-immigration U.S. policies and their impact on social work practice with lawful permanent residents (LPR) and undocumented Latinx migrants in the U.S. Stringent U.S. immigration laws have resulted in increased racial profiling and psychological consequences. Social workers play a necessary role in meeting the complex needs of this population by bridging the gap between micro and macro level interventions. This article will discuss Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) as frameworks in social work practice with Latinx migrants. The role of social work through the LatCrit praxis will be explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigration
• Latino critical race theory
• policy
• reform
• anti-oppressive social work

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges Dr. Liliana Goldín, Dr. Diane Mirabito, and Dr. Carol Tosone for their feedback and guidance on earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure Statement

There are no conflicts of interest to declare.