Therapist Jessica Romero’s patient saw two men abducted in front of their apartment in broad daylight and froze out of fear. Psychiatrist Erica Lubliner works with a parent whose child sobs for fear his dark skin makes him a target of immigration agents. Therapist Yanira Hernández has a patient whose focus during work wanders to the immigration raids and her parents’ safety.
These are just a few examples of the increase in stress, anxiety, fear and anger over immigration raids that mental health professionals and organizations have seen among their Latino patients since June. That’s when the Trump administration began an aggressive ramp-up of immigration enforcement operations that has sent heavily armed, masked federal agents into communities across Southern California to round up people for deportation.
