What Challenges and Opportunities Do Psychologists, Policymakers, and Other Immigration Policy Stakeholders Face in Light of Current U.S. Immigration Policies?
This webinar has been organized by several divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA)— Developmental Psychology (APA Division 7), the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (APA Division 9), the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Division 24), and the Society for Community Research and Action (APA Division 27)—in partnership with Fordham Law School’s Feerick Center for Social Justice and the APA Immigration Working Group. This webinar is part of a larger collaborative project that was made possible through an APA Public Interest Leadership Conference (PILC) Health Equity Dissemination Award.
Presenters
Wendy Cervantes, M.A.
Senior Policy Analyst
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Presentation: Policy Implications for Immigrant Children and Families: Challenges and Opportunities
Luis H. Zayas, Ph.D.
Dean and Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work
Presentation: Using Clinical Evaluations to Advocate for Immigrant and Refugee Children
About the webinar: Wendy Cervantes will open the webinar, providing an overview of the children impacted by U.S. immigration policies—including citizen children living in mixed-status families, undocumented children, and unaccompanied children. Cervantes will cover the pressing immigration policy issues impacting these children, including a brief historical overview and recent policy proposals such as the Trump administration’s immigration executive orders. She will also discuss challenges and opportunities and speak to how researchers and practitioners can help inform the policy discussion. The presentation by Dr. Luis H. Zayas will follow, focusing on how mental health evaluations can be used to advocate for two groups of children: (a) citizen-children whose parents are in deportation proceedings and are fighting to cancel their removal, and (b) refugee children held in family detention centers with their mothers. Zayas will describe briefly the conditions of each set of children and discuss the unique and overlapping features of clinical evaluations conducted with both groups. Zayas will discuss the content and purpose of the evaluation report and the professional’s testimony in immigration court and use of the report in asylum hearings. He will also discuss ways in which psychologists can be advocates in the media, class-action lawsuits, immigration court, and legislative bodies.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6832751566446760961
About the Presenters
Wendy Cervantes is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy where she leads the organization’s cross-sector policy agenda aimed at supporting low-income immigrants and their families. Previously, Ms. Cervantes was the Vice President of Immigration and Child Rights at First Focus. She also served as Director of Programs at La Plaza, Indianapolis and managed the immigrant and refugee families portfolio at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Ms. Cervantes holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies and Political Science from the University of New Mexico and a B.A. in Communications from the University of Southern California.
Luis H. Zayas, Ph.D., is Dean of the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy. He is also a Professor of Psychiatry in the Dell Medical School of The University of Texas at Austin. Zayas is a licensed psychologist and licensed clinical social worker in Texas. His book, Forgotten Citizens: Children, Deportation, and the Making of American Exiles and Orphans (Oxford, 2015), describes the plight of U.S.-born children who live under the shadow of their undocumented immigrant parents’ deportability or actual deportation. He continues to advocate for justice for immigrant and refugee children in the United States.
Thank you to Serena Dávila, JD, of the APA Immigration Working Group, for helping to make this webinar possible. Serena is a Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer in APA’s Public Interest Directorate.
Jean Hill, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Society for Community Research and Action
Division 27 of the American Psychological Association