Immigration in SW Series: The Intersection of Immigration Status, Human Rights, Advocacy & SW Ethics

By Sara Camilleri LMSW QIDP

Solo Practitioner at Sand River Therapy,  Board Secretary for the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights & NASW MI Chapter Ethics Committee Member

Series Note:

This article is part of a collaborative series that focuses on the issue of immigration and how it impacts our work as social workers. Stay tuned for additional articles that seek to help inform Michigan Social Workers about the unique issues that affect those living with varying immigration statuses across micro, mezzo and macro practice areas. This series is being organized, developed and implemented by:

• Jenny Bishop LMSW, Therapist & Co-Owner of Elevated Therapeutic Services LLC

• Sara Camilleri LMSW QIDP, Solo Practitioner of Sand River Therapy

• Holly DeVivo LMSW, Therapist & Co-Owner of Elevated Therapeutic Services LLC

Introduction:

I’ll be honest. I’ve struggled with how to write an introduction to this article. Initially, I drafted the article as a way of coping with yet another event in the news about immigration deportations. In my self-reflection, I realized that immigration status was rarely discussed during my studies to be a social worker and opportunities to get further social work specific training on the clinical implications of immigration status haven’t always been available. Where would we even begin to talk about this issue, let alone work together to make change? My hope is that this article series can help all of us as we navigate the intersection of our role in the social work profession and the complexities of immigration status in our society. Let’s start with our ethics.

Relevant Ethical Principles & Standards:

• Value: Social Justice

  • Ethical Principle: Social workers challenge social injustice.

  • “Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers’ social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.” (NASW, n.d.)

• 1.05 Cultural Competence

  • “(a) Social workers should demonstrate understanding of culture and its function in human behavior and society, recognizing the strengths that exist in all cultures.

  • (b) Social workers should demonstrate knowledge that guides practice with clients of various cultures and be able to demonstrate skills in the provision of culturally informed services that empower marginalized individuals and groups. Social workers must take action against oppression, racism, discrimination, and inequities, and acknowledge personal privilege.

  • (c) Social workers should demonstrate awareness and cultural humility by engaging in critical self-reflection (understanding their own bias and engaging in self-correction), recognizing clients as experts of their own culture, committing to lifelong learning, and holding institutions accountable for advancing cultural humility.

  • (d) Social workers should obtain education about and demonstrate understanding of the nature of social diversity and oppression with respect to race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, and mental or physical ability.

  • (e) Social workers who provide electronic social work services should be aware of cultural and socioeconomic differences among clients’ use of and access to electronic technology and seek to prevent such potential barriers. Social workers should assess cultural, environmental, economic, mental or physical ability, linguistic, and other issues that may affect the delivery or use of these services.”  (NASW, n.d.)

• 4.02 Discrimination

  • “Social workers should not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical ability.”  (NASW, n.d.)

• 6.01 Social Welfare

  • “Social workers should promote the general welfare of society, from local to global levels, and the development of people, their communities, and their environments. Social workers should advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs and should promote social, economic, political, and cultural values and institutions that are compatible with the realization of social justice.”  (NASW, n.d.)

• 6.04 Social and Political Action

  • “(a) Social workers should engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that all people have equal access to the resources, employment, services, and opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs and to develop fully. Social workers should be aware of the impact of the political arena on practice and should advocate for changes in policy and legislation to improve social conditions to meet basic human needs and promote social justice.

  • (b) Social workers should act to expand choice and opportunity for all people, with special regard for vulnerable, disadvantaged, oppressed, and exploited people and groups.

  • (c) Social workers should promote conditions that encourage respect for cultural and social diversity within the United States and globally. Social workers should promote policies and practices that demonstrate respect for difference, support the expansion of cultural knowledge and resources, advocate for programs and institutions that demonstrate cultural competence, and promote policies that safeguard the rights of and confirm equity and social justice for all people.

  • (d) Social workers should act to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and discrimination against any person, group, or class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical ability.”  (NASW, n.d.)

Key Points to Consider:

• Social Workers have an ethical responsibility to pay attention to how their work could be impacted by immigration issues as a part of our ethical responsibility to cultural competence:

The NASW explains in their “8 Ethical Considerations for Responding to Social Injustice” article that we have an obligation under our Code of Ethics to “stay abreast of current affairs and of social issues” (NASW, 2017). I would mention further that when we better understand any social issue, we better understand what our clients might be experiencing. Due to the nature of the current mass deportations related to immigration status, it would not be surprising to observe responses rooted in fear, isolation, trauma, etc. Behavioral responses could look like not attending school or withdrawing from typical social activities for fear of deportation. It may also present as missing in-person appointments or requesting virtual appointments in order to stay safe. On a macro level, there may be policy changes occurring related to immigration laws at the local, state, and federal levels. These may be important to take note of even if you don’t specifically work with immigrants, as it may indirectly affect your work.

• Social Workers have an ethical responsibility to be aware of the complexities in providing care or support to people living with varying citizenship statuses:

Appropriately supporting clients who may have varying citizenship statuses requires more than cultural competency or appropriate linguistic services. This may look like providing appropriate referrals to a client, connecting a client to resources regarding their rights, or even having appropriate policies in place where you work for the variety of immigration statuses. As a reminder, the resources and rights available to a citizen versus a DACA recipient versus someone who is considered “undocumented” are all very different. We have an ethical responsibility to ensure that we have non-discriminatory treatment and policies in place to empower and protect marginalized groups (NASW, n.d.). While we don’t have to specialize in immigration or refugee work, understanding the nuances of immigration status only strengthens our work. Easy to use resources are listed and linked at the end of this article.

• Social Workers have an obligation to reflect on any biases that they or their workplace may have related to immigration status and work toward cultural humility:

Let’s be real. Everyone has an opinion on this topic these days whether you want to or not, therefore it’s important to know how your personal opinions could affect your work. There are more narratives in our society about immigration status now than ever before. As Social Workers, we know these social narratives influence our behavior and our Code of Ethics calls us to be aware of how our bias affects us so that we can still maintain our ethical duty to our profession (NASW, n.d.). Please be encouraged to consider finding appropriate reading, obtain ongoing supervision or peer consulting, and participating in continuing education or trainings regarding implicit bias, particularly regarding immigration status. Also be encouraged to take time to self-reflect regarding this issue and how your implicit bias appears in your work.

• It’s not just an immigration issue. It’s a human rights issue:

We’ve all heard it by now, “Social Work is Political.” Regardless of your personal feelings about immigration, we do have a duty to be aware of how political policies, decisions and media impact our clients’ lives. It’s important to consider the effects of our political action and consider how our actions could help or harm our clients (including the impacts of who we vote for). Thoughtful and intentional political advocacy in social work practice can help us to keep people safe. In fact, our code of ethics calls us to take political action in order to promote social diversity, to prevent discrimination/exploitation of immigrant status and to “advocate for changes in policy and legislation to improve social conditions to meet basic human needs and promote social justice” (NASW, n.d.). We often think of immigration simply as a policy issue or one that more so affects other border states. In reality, immigration status is a human rights issue, a child welfare issue, a labor rights issue, a human trafficking issue and much more. Witnessing or experiencing immigration enforcement, deportations or policy changes affects all of us. Emotional effects such as distress, anxiety or trauma are not determined by one’s immigration status. These events can emotionally impact any human subjected to observing them. Below are some facts about immigration status that also influence other types of social work:

• Facts about Immigration Status applicable to Social Work Practice with Children and Families:

  • “6.1 million U.S.-citizen children under the age of 18 lived with an undocumented family member as of 2018” (American Immigration Council, 2021).

  • “A child’s risk of experiencing mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and severe psychological distress increases following the detention and/or deportation of a parent. Since late 2016, doctors and service providers report having seen more children exhibiting stress- and anxiety-related behavioral changes, including symptoms of “toxic-stress,” due to fear that a family member will be deported” (American Immigration Council, 2021).

  • “Children experience toxic stress when they are suddenly separated from their parents, which negatively impacts brain development. They are also at greater risk of developing chronic mental health conditions that include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as physical conditions such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease” (American Immigration Council, 2021). 

  • Two thirds of uninsured children in the United States are children of underdocumented or undocumented parents, but themselves US citizens (American Bar Association, 2014). 

• Facts about Immigration Status relevant to Social Work Practice with Human Trafficking & Labor Rights:

  • At any given time in 2016, an estimated 40.3 million people are in modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2024).

  • It means there are 5.4 victims of modern slavery for every 1,000 people in the world (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2024).

  • 1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2024).

  • Out of the 24.9 million people trapped in forced labor, 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture; 4.8 million persons in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million persons in forced labor imposed by state authorities (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2024).

  • Women and girls are disproportionately affected by forced labor, accounting for 99% of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58% in other sectors (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2024).

  • “Migrant workers face a higher risk of forced labour than other workers. The forced labour prevalence of adult migrant workers is more than three times higher than that of adult non-migrant workers. This figure makes clear that when migrant workers are not protected by law or are unable to exercise their rights, migration is irregular or poorly governed, or where recruitment practices are unfair or unethical, migration can lead to situations of vulnerability to forced labour” (International Labour Organization (ILO) et al., 2022)

• Facts about Immigration Status applicable to Social Work Practice with LGBTQ+ folks:

  • “Asylum in the United States is a lifesaving necessity for LGBTQ/H people. Same-sex activity between consenting adults is subject to criminal punishment in approximately 67 countries and it is fundamentally unsafe to be LGBTQ in many more. Twelve countries allow the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual activity. Fourteen countries target gender identity through “cross-dressing” or “impersonation” laws.” (Immigration Equality et al., 2024)

  • “Using data about fear claims made through the defensive process, we [UCLA School of Law Williams Institute] estimate that 11,400 applications for asylum were filed in the United States between FY 2012 to 2017 by LGBT people. Among these applications were 3,899 claims on the basis of LGBT status.” (Shaw et al., 2021)

  • “Research shows that the process of applying for asylum can itself have deleterious effects on LGBTQI+ persons.” (Shaw & Verghese, 2022)

• Facts about Immigration Status pertinent to Social Work Practice with Housing:

  • “A 2016 study of immigration enforcement and housing foreclosures found that “deportations exacerbate rates of foreclosure among Latinos by removing income earners from owner-occupied households.” Furthermore, the research revealed that counties with 287(g) agreements, which authorize immigration enforcement collaboration between local police and ICE, had substantially higher foreclosure rates among Latinos” (American Immigration Council, 2021).

• Facts about Immigration Status relevant to Social Work Practice with Healthcare:

  • As of 2023, 50% of undocumented and underdocumented immigrants do not have health insurance (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2025).

  • As of 2023, 18% of lawfully present immigrants do not have health insurance (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2025).

  • Undocumented and underdocumented immigrants utilize healthcare less than citizens. Reported concerns with accessing healthcare include higher uninsured rate, language access challenges, confusion, and immigration-related fears (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2025).

• Facts about Immigration Status related to Social Work Practice with Maternal Mental Health:

  • “Even before birth, immigration enforcement can put a child’s health at risk. The 2008 worksite raid in Postville, Iowa (the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history) was tied to premature and underweight births—complications that put babies at risk for infant death or long-term health problems. Researchers found that babies born to Latina mothers in Iowa within 37 weeks of the raid were 24 percent more likely to be underweight compared to births over the same amount of time one year earlier. This increased risk was not evident in babies born to non-Latina white mothers in Iowa” (American Immigration Council, 2021).

  • “Immigrant women are at 1.5–2-fold higher risk of postpartum depressive symptoms than non-immigrant women” (Falah-Hassani et al., 2015).

• Helpful Resources for Social Work Practice:

  • Michigan Immigrant Rights Center

  • National Immigration Law Center

  • Know Your Rights by ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)

  • NASW Immigration & Racial Justice Informational Resource Page for Social Workers

  • Lighthouse Immigration Advocates

Conclusion:

In reality, immigration status is likely more a part of our work that we realize. With mass deportation and immigration being a main priority of the current political administration, Social Workers now more than ever have a duty to be informed about this topic. We have an ethical responsibility to understand how immigration status may impact our clients and work in clinical, mezzo and macro settings. We should be encouraged to educate ourselves on specific nuances of immigration status including but not limited to changes in a person’s legal rights, changes to how a Social Worker might conduct practice, relevant social policies and appropriate community resources. It’s important to take time to reflect on our personal narratives and biases related to immigration status and how this could influence our work; it’s also important to make sure we remain objective and fair in work through the practice of cultural humility. Immigration status affects more than just immigration specific systems therefore it’s essential to be aware of how it could occur in your work. Lastly, we have a responsibility to ethically advocate for the basic human needs and dignity of all people, including the very vulnerable immigrant members of our communities. 

References:

American Bar Association. (2014, April 1). Many Uninsured Children Live in Immigrant Families. Americanbar.org; American Bar Association. Retrieved on May 12, 2025 from: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/child_law/resources/child_law_practiceonline/child_law_practice/vol-33/april-2014/many-uninsured-children-live-in-immigrant-families/

American Immigration Council. (2021, June 24). U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement. American Immigration Council; American Immigration Council. Retrieved on May 12, 2025 from: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/us-citizen-children-impacted-immigration-enforcement

Falah-Hassani, K., Shiri, R., Vigod, S., & Dennis, C.-L. (2015). Prevalence of postpartum depression among immigrant women: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 70, 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.08.010

Immigration Equality, National Immigrant Justice Center, & Human Rights First. (2024). “No Human Being Should Be Held There” The Mistreatment of LGBTQ and HIV-Positive People in U.S. Federal Immigration Jails. Immigration Equality. https://immigrationequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Human-Being-Should-Be-Held-There-THE-MISTREATMENT-OF-LGBTQ-AND-HIV-POSITIVE-PEOPLE-IN-U.S.-FEDERAL-IMMIGRATION-JAILS.pdf

International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free, & International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2022). Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. In Walk Free. Retrieved on May 13, 2025 from: https://cdn.walkfree.org/content/uploads/2022/09/12142341/GEMS-2022_Report_EN_V8.pdf

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2025, January 15). Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants. KFF. Retrieved on May 12, 2025 from: https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/fact-sheet/key-facts-on-health-coverage-of-immigrants/

National Association of Social Workers (NASW). NASW Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 13, 2025 from : https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

National Association of Social Workers (NASW). 8 Ethical Considerations for Responding to Social Injustice. (2017). Retrieved of April 24, 2025 from:

https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Ethics-Education-and-Resources/Ethics-8/8-Ethical-Considerations-for-Responding-to-Social-Injustice

Shaw, A., Luhur, W., Eagly , I., & Conron, K. J. (2021). LGBT ASYLUM CLAIMS in the United States. UCLA School of Law Williams Institute. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Asylum-LGBT-Claims-Mar-2021.pdf

Shaw, A., & Verghese, N. (2022). LGBTQI+ REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS A Review of Research and Data Needs. UCLA School of Law Williams Institute. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/LGBTQI-Refugee-Review-Jul-2022.pdf