Summary: (1) Previous research shows that an immigration raid in Iowa in 2008 was associated with lower birth weight. (2) This was true of infants born to both foreign-born and US-born Latina women, suggesting this association centered around fear of being racially profiled, not merely immigration status. (3) Low birth weight is correlated with a range of health issues, including chronic diseases in middle age. (4) The scale of immigration raids today is much larger than 2008, affecting a wider segment of the population, increasing collateral damage among citizens. (5) One survey found that roughly 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry about deportation, with higher rates among immigrants and US born, second-generation citizens. This constitutes tens of millions of Americans, including an unspecified number of women of reproductive age. (6) In addition to human rights abuses, harsh deportation policies will likely lead to prenatal stress, impaired early development, and extensive long-term costs to public health.

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“And you can see, you can hear, you could feel the fear, the intimidation. You could feel the terror.”

– Los Angeles resident Elizabeth Castillo, referring to local ICE raids (source)

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In 2017, Nicole Novak and colleagues looked at the effects of a major government raid against suspected undocumented, primarily Hispanic, migrant workers in Postville Iowa (Novak et al 2017). In May of 2008, nine hundred ICE agents, along with a Black Hawk helicopter, raided a meat-processing plant in Postville, resulting in the arrests of nearly 400 workers. After a five-month prison sentence, 297 people were eventually deported. However, even those who were not deported (or even arrested) were affected.