I have been researching trauma and the effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences play on children’s physical and mental health for many years. However, I have always considered that the ACE screening was not inclusive enough to screen people who are refugees, asylum seekers, or undocumented immigrants. I have long believed that the ACEs framework screening should include screening questions including if a person had to flee their home country to seek safety, if one or more persons in a family had been deported, if the person suffered forced family separation as a child, if one had been forced into a detention center when seeking safety.
In this article, the team of authors shows that Latinx children with varying degrees of immigration statuses, whether US-citizen born to immigrant parents, permanent resident, temporary resident, or undocumented face a higher level of macro-level trauma. The article details different aspects of trauma for Latinx immigrants and the effect this trauma has on children.
While this study is specific to many specifics of the Latinx experience, I believe that parts of the study could apply to Middle Eastern, African, or Asian immigrants as well.