“How does immigrant detention impact mental health?” This question has been on the mind of every refugee and migrant. After all, getting sent to a detention center by the authorities of their host country is a far too commonly experienced aspect of being an asylum seeker.

As one would expect, spending days or months in a detention center has many psychological effects on a migrant. However, some of these adverse effects might not be observed immediately, but they will continue to affect the migrant and their families long after their detention period. This is not something that can be taught beforehand or received a manual on how to protect yourself in a detention center. We can make sure that you have the relevant information about the particular topic, which might help you protect yourself.

First and foremost, before traveling, it is best to acquire as much information as possible: Learn about immigration bond requirements, immigration bond eligibility, and even immigration bond breach.

This article attempts to explain the vast consequences of detention on the mental health of migrants.

The General Condition of Detention Centers

Detention centers in established countries like the US are often overcrowded with undocumented and falsely accused migrants. Most migrants are already in a precarious mental state and deal with overwhelming feelings of displacement when they get detained. The mental health of these individuals greatly suffers when they face inadequate access to food and water, poor sanitation practices, and overcrowded spaces that look and feel oddly similar to prisons with cages and harsh overhead lights. The daily life in immigration jail is no walk in the park, so the government needs to take proper action to ensure that these places are suitable to live in. Nobody asks to be pampered with luxuries, but at the very least, they should be provided with adequate necessities.

These harsh conditions birth multiple consequences, such as poor health conditions, especially flu outbreaks, mistreatment of the detained migrants, physical and emotional abuse, neglect from the authorities in charge, and more. Being locked up in an environment can have many traumatizing, long-lasting effects on a person struggling with alienation.

Effects of Detention on Immigrant Mental Heath

When migrants are forced to spend hours confined in small detention centers, they face many mental health challenges. These negative psychological effects are more pronounced in children and adolescents, but even adults suffer from them. Did you know that the number of displaced people, refugees, and asylum seekers has increased significantly in the last five years?

Here are some of the most common psychological effects of immigrant detention:

Post-Traumatic Stress, Depression, and Anxiety

Anxiety, depression, and PTSD are quite common impacts of immigrant detention. A 2018 study of twenty-six varied studies highlighted that adults, children, and adolescents experience high levels of mental health issues when detained. The three commonly reported conditions were depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress in this report. The detainees continued to experience these conditions after their detention period, which affected their lives. Immigration children’s jails may sound like they are properly taken care of, but the time they spend there stays with them all their lives.

Children who suffer from such mental health conditions at a developmental age stay with them for a long time. These conditions affect their well-being and lifestyle. They also affect the relationships they form as adolescents and adults and their relationships with their parents.

Suicidal Ideation & PTSD

When migrants are detained for long periods, such as months on end, their unresolved traumas keep compounding and result in even more mental health issues. Most refugees come from war-torn towns and countries and burnt-down villages or run away to escape persecution, sexual abuse, forced marriage, violence, etc.

When an individual has suffered such hardship and hasn’t been given the resources to explore the trauma and heal from it and gets detained instead, it has multiple negative effects on their psyche. In most instances, such people report feelings of abject helplessness and are often diagnosed with depression, PTSD, suicidal ideation, and generalized anxiety disorder.

Emotional Distress

Many adults, children, and adolescents exhibit emotional distress from being held in a detention center. Most of this distress is due to unresolved trauma, further compounded by the separation between parents and children and the terrible conditions of these centers. For children, emotional distress can be caused by losing the parent-child bond, loss of socialization and education, and the abrupt end of or interference with their healthy development.

Migrants also face chronic stress that leads to emotional distress and causes anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. It can also give rise to multiple physiological health conditions. Children also suffer from separation anxiety, leading to more mental health issues. Emotional distress can also cause sleep problems, poor appetite, behavioral problems, somatic issues, weight loss, developmental problems, and more among children and even adults. There are very few instances where families are kept together. This causes another range of issues and detachment problems, not only in children but also in adults. Women and men in immigration jail cells are not situated together, which is how families have been ripped apart.

Mental Health Problems Faced by Adult Migrants

Here are some psychological effects of immigrant detention on adults:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• PTSD
• Emotional distress
• Loss of authority
• Inability to offer normalcy to their children
• Inability to become a nurturing, comforting parental figure
• Suicidal ideation and more

Effects of Detention on Immigrant Children & Adolescents

So, how does immigrant detention impact the mental health of detained children? Most people do not know that migrants suffer exactly or, in some circumstances, more than people in prisons. Here’s an overview of the psychological and related problems children and adolescents face during and after detention:

• Issues with normal brain development
• Emotional distress and resultant emotional regulation issues
• Suicidal ideation and self-harm
• Inability to understand or respond to social cues
• Jumpiness and paranoia
• Chronic depression and anxiety
• Frequent crying spells
• Delayed behavioral development

The current state of detention centers and the laws governing the treatment of immigrants worldwide need to change drastically. The world must collectively provide migrants and refugees with some much-needed professional psychological wellness support in dealing with their mental health issues. Moreover, we need to create better facilities for detaining unlawful migrants. But what’s equally important is to implement laws that protect migrants from getting falsely charged, detained, and deported. How many cases have we seen or heard that immigrants are falsely accused of something they never did? Sometimes, a simple misdemeanor is made into such a big deal. If a person is deported immediately, the best that anyone can do is give them safety tips to travel alone.

How Can ITT Help?

International Traveling Tips can become your backbone when dealing with immigration laws. We have a highly professional and experienced team of lawyers and immigration experts who work with local agencies worldwide to benefit migrants and protect them from anything unjust and unlawful. We can help with legal matters and provide you with the best ways to figure out things, like the nearest immigration court near you.

We offer varied benefits to immigrants who have our receipt at the exact moment of securing their visas. As for those migrants who come to their host countries without inspection from immigration authorities, we offer them our benefits and comprehensive program for a monthly fee of $75. We also offer you access to professional advice from our lawyers and their guidance in seeking suitable mental health support to get back on track.