The New Deal for New Americans: Immigration Status and Mental Health

Abstract

Extreme circumstances immigrants experience causes them to have a higher risk for mental health problems. It gets even more severe for refugees than host populations and other migrant groups. Thus, in this paper, mental health disparities between native-born citizens and refugees in the US will be investigated by considering social policies. Firstly, immigration status in the US will be investigated in terms of its relation to mental health. Then, mental health will be examined, and the focus will be on anxiety disorders and depression as these are the two common disorders among refugees. In the following section, Social-Ecological Model will be used as a framework to explain the relationship between immigration status and mental health. The Refugee Act of 1980 and The New Deal for New Americans Act will be used to understand the current political climate in terms of the refugee situation in the US, and we will examine how this has an impact on refugees' mental health. This paper will be concluded after mentioning the obstacles and the recommendations.