Abstract
Psychologists first sounded the alarm of an emergency regarding mental health of children and families at the border in 2019. Three years later, that emergency continues to affect Central American children and families who arrive with physical and mental health problems after experiencing an arduous migration process. First, this chapter will cover a brief history of US involvement in Central America that contributed to the economic destabilization of the area. This history will provide context for push and pull factors that have led Central American families to leave their home countries. Next, empirical studies will be reviewed to demonstrate how pre-migration trauma, the migration process, post-migration experiences, and family separation, all together impact the mental health of Central American migrant families. The resilience of Latinx immigrant families and youth is highlighted as an important resource. Overall, the chapter dismantles the idea that the USA is susceptible to an invasion of criminals, gang members, and human traffickers by highlighting publicly available data from the federal government and current literature to demonstrate that there is a humanitarian crisis and a pressing need for policy reform and immigrant services, not a call for increased safety measures.
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Bautista, A., Venta, A. (2023). A Mental Health Emergency. In: Baikady, R., Sajid, S., Przeperski, J., Nadesan, V., Islam, M.R., Gao, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_138-1
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