On behalf of the Pediatric Residency Immigrant Health Task Force (IHTF), please see our most recent Immigration Health Tip of the Month, focusing on key terminology and buzzwords that may come up when taking care of immigrant families. We acknowledge and warn that some of these terms may be triggering. We provide these terms primarily as a reference guide for clinicians and not as terms to be commonly used in the clinical setting. For a refresher of effective communication skills for advocacy, please review our previous newsletter Language Matters: Communication for Advocacy in Immigration Health.
Immigrant Health Terms
- Immigrant children - Defined as children who are foreign-born or children born in the United States who live with at least 1 parent who is foreign-born.
- First generation - Can refer to a person born in the U.S. to immigrant parents or a naturalized American citizen.
- Second generation - U.S. born with at least one guardian born outside of the US
- Border children - Children who live within 100 km of the US-Mexico border. Immigrant children have a significant presence in the border states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
- Migrant - A person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions. Typically someone who has chosen to move. (Main difference between refugees and asylees is choice.) “Migrant children” may work in the industries in which their family members are employed and move frequently because of changes in their parents’ employment. Migrant families are often located in areas that have many agricultural workers and/or where rapid growth is occurring.
- Refugees - Individuals who are outside of their country, have been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence, and/or have a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, social class, or political outlook. Must be located outside of the US when they seek protection.
- Refugees are defined and protected in international law. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which is the basis for the international refugee system, was key in defining the term refugee and its provisions.
- A vital part of being recognised as a refugee is Refugee Status Determination (RSD), a legal process that governments or United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) use to determine whether a person seeking international protection is considered a refugee under international, national or regional law.
- Asylees - Individuals who fit the definition of a refugee, however, they seek protection at a point of entry or once they are already within the US.
- Refugees are required to apply for Lawful Permanent Resident (“green card”) status one year after being admitted, and asylees may apply for green card status one year after their grant of asylum.
- Secondary Migration - Refugees who voluntarily move from where they initially resettled in the US to another state or region in the US. This movement may occur before or after public health screening.
- Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC)/UIY Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth - Individuals under 18 years old without lawful legal status in the US and without a legal guardian in the US.
- Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) - Refugee children under 18 years old meeting the definition of refugee who are without a parent or guardian and live with a foster family with protection of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
- Undocumented Immigrant Children - Children without lawful legal status in the US with a legal guardian in the US.
- Special Immigrant Visa - Qualifies for a green card (permanent residence) under the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) special immigrant program. Most often Afghani and Iraqi families who worked for the US military.
- Immigrant Visa holders - Other children with various legal visa statuses, including green cards, obtained through ‘family-based’ program and ‘green card’ lottery.
Legal terms and policies:
- SB 54 the “California Values Act” - prohibits law enforcement from cooperating with ICE except in cases of “convicted criminals”; helps to classify California as a “sanctuary state”
- Child Detention Related
- Flores Settlement Agreement (1997)
- Set strict national standards for the detention, treatment, and release of all minors detained in the legal custody. It requires that children be held in the least restrictive setting appropriate for a child’s needs and that they be released without unnecessary delay to a parent, designate of the parent, or responsible adult as deemed appropriate.
- ICE - Immigration & Customs Enforcement
- Judicial warrant - warrant issued by a judge that allows ICE officials or police officers to enter homes and search, seizure, and arrest due to probable cause under the 4th amendment of the Constitution
- Administrative warrant - warrant that does not override the 4th amendment of the Constitution, not a judicial warrant; in the majority of cases ICE relies on administrative warrants issued by their organization and signed by an ICE supervisor
- Public Charge - A public charge is a person who is primarily dependent on the government for support, by either receiving cash assistance for income maintenance, or by being institutionalized for long-term care at government expense. In making a public charge determination, immigration officials review all of a person’s circumstances, including their age, income, health, education or skills, family situation, and their sponsor’s affidavit of support or contract. If immigration officials determine that a person is likely to become a public charge in the future, they can deny that person permission to come to the U.S. or deny their application for a green card, which is formally called lawful permanent resident status (LPR).
- Immigration Status
- Individuals with permanent status
- LPR/Green Card - lawful permanent resident status
- Non-citizens who are lawfully authorized to live permanently within the United States. LPRs may accept an offer of employment without special restrictions, own property, receive financial assistance at public colleges and universities, and join the Armed Forces.
- U and T visa - provide legal status to victims of human trafficking or victims of crimes
- Individuals without permanent status
- DACA holder/Dreamer - announced in 2012; has afforded many young adults with new opportunities by providing access to work authorization, a social security number, and reprieve from deportation. Often referred to as “Dreamers”
- TPS - temporary program that allows foreign nationals to remain in the U.S. if during the time there were in the U.S. something catastrophic happened in their country of origin preventing their safe return (i.e. warm, famine, natural disaster, or epidemic). TPS provides authorization for employment and be protected from deportation
- Undocumented (without work authorization or EAD) - immigrants who lack lawful status granted by federal authorities and do not possess a visa or work authorization
References:
Dr. Raul Gutierrez’s Pediatrics Residency Tuesday Teleconference, “Immigration and Status: A Social Determinant of Health,” September 15, 2020.
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/144/3/e20192077
https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/refugee-status-determination.html
https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/refugees-asylees