Im/migrant Lives

Latino children, the majority of which have at least one immigrant parent, face challenges when it comes to education. Lower parental education, limited income, and for Latino immigrant families, learning a new language and understanding how the U.S. education system works, present additional obstacles to educational attainment. In response, Early Childhood Education programs help to shrink gaps in immigrant Latino children’s education. This episode discusses how immigration policies affect access to these programs and to education generally.

The year 2025 saw the passing of dozens of executive orders related to immigration. Among them were mandates to increase the detention and deportation of immigrants through increased agreements between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (known as 287 (g) agreements) and increasing the presence of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the interior of the country. How has ramped up immigration enforcement affected the lives of mixed-status families in Florida? In this episode, we discuss the research findings of a study that examined the effects of recent enforcement activity on immigrant parents and their U.S.-born children.

With increasing numbers of immigrants being detained or removed from their communities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), what are the effects of detaining them on their well-being? In this episode, we discuss the current issues facing detained immigrants and what the research says about immigrant well-being in detention centers.

At least half a million immigrants who recently came to the United States did so legally, a process that hinged on them passing security vetting and having a U.S. sponsor. Nonetheless, their current legal status is in jeopardy. In this episode, we discuss how these populations are navigating these issues and how the political uncertainty is affecting their daily lives.

Since December of 2024, the number of partnerships between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police and sheriffs’ offices, also known as 287(g) agreements, grew at an unprecedented rate, from 139 agreements to 531 as of May 8, 2025, representing a 225% increase. These agreements deputize local police officers to carry out immigration enforcement, traditionally the realm of the federal government. In this episode, we discuss the research on how these agreements affect immigrant communities.

Since President Trump took office earlier this year, he has signed many immigration-related Executive Orders that contain dozens of policy changes. In this episode, we provide an overview of these Executive Orders, their current status, and the implications of these actions for im/migrant well-being.

As we stare down the prospect of mass deportation in the coming years, questions arise as to what will happen to the immigrant and U.S.-born children of those who are deported from the United States. In this episode, we examine how immigration enforcement efforts, such as deportations and workplace raids, affect not just the children of those who are targeted, but all children who are members of the communities that experience these immigration enforcement measures.

What is it like to experience a disaster as an immigrant? As the frequency of natural hazards increases due to climate change, immigrants are particularly vulnerable to the devastation that natural hazards bring. This episode explores what kinds of disaster relief immigrants have access to and barriers immigrants face when attempting to recover and rebuild after natural hazards strike.

Immigration has been a central issue in the 2024 presidential race, with candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties proposing immigration policies that will inevitably affect im/migrant well-being. In this episode, we discuss some of the central pillars of both candidates’ proposed policies and based on past research, we analyze how these policies may impact im/migrant well-being.

In contrast to the criminal justice system, immigrants who come before a judge in civil immigration court are not guaranteed the right to legal representation should they be unable to afford it, yet in some cases they face consequences as severe as those applied in criminal cases. In this episode, we discuss whether immigrants facing detention and deportation should have access to the right to counsel by evaluating some of the research on the consequences of lacking legal representation and potential policy solutions.

Florida’s SB 1718, a law that criminalized many aspects of life as an immigrant, passed in the Florida legislature and was signed into law in 2023. One year later, how have immigrants responded to this law, and what are the effects and implications for the state of Florida? In this episode, we will discuss SB 1718’s effects on immigrants’ lives and in their communities.

Opponents of immigration often link immigration to crime, and rhetoric in the media has casted immigrants as criminals, leading some public officials to propose greater immigration control as a mechanism to reduce crime. This episode examines the relationship between immigration and crime to debunk the many myths circulating in the media about immigrants to the U.S.

In recent decades security at the US Southern border has increased to stop the arrivals of immigrants and refugees. This episode examines how border security, specifically the presence of the border wall in Arizona communities and Customs and Border Patrol’s practice of screening residents at border checkpoints, affects the Latino/a/x population of young adults in the region. We will discuss racial profiling practices, how they impact human rights, and how they erode residents’—including US citizens’—sense of belonging to the nation.

How can we revamp asylum policies to ensure that a humanitarian approach guides US practices toward asylum seekers?The right to seek asylum is protected under US federal law and the right to seek safety from persecution is backed by international law. Despite this, as immigrants and asylum seekers cross into the United States along the US-Mexico border, Congressional Representatives are negotiating changes to the US asylum system to slow the number of migrants into the US. In this episode, we discuss the impact of various proposals and how the US asylum system could be revamped to ensure that a humanitarian approach guides changes to this system.

As immigrants cross into the United States, or in cases where local law enforcement agencies have agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), immigrants are often imprisoned in detention facilities until their immigration court cases can be heard. When they are released, some are subjected to state monitoring through GPS tracking devices. Often neglected in these accounts are what happens to detained immigrants’ children and how they respond to their parents’ detention and their tracking through such devices. In this episode, we will be discussing the impact of immigrant detention and alternatives to detention on children’s well-being.

The Spring 2023 session of the Florida Legislature saw the passage of SB 1718, a law that criminalizes many aspects of immigrant lives in the name of curbing undocumented migration. In this episode, we will be discussing the law’s effects on immigrants and their communities.Episode 1 features:Dr. Elizabeth ArandaProfessor of Sociology and the Director of the Im/migrant Well-Being Research Center, University of South FloridaNanci PalaciosDeputy Director of Faith in FloridaDr. Heide CastañedaProfessor of Anthropology, University of South Florida