文章基本信息

标题：A Call for Further Research on the Impact of State-Level Immigration Policies on Public Health
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作者：Lisa J. Hardy ; Christina M. Getrich ; Julio C. Quezada 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2012
卷号：102
期号：7
页码：1250-1253
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2011.300541
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：Arizona’s Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, signed into law in April 2010, is already adversely affecting public health in the state. Our findings from a study on childhood obesity in Flagstaff suggest that the law changed health-seeking behaviors of residents of a predominantly Latino neighborhood by increasing fear, limiting residents’ mobility, and diminishing trust of officials. These changes could exacerbate barriers to healthy living, limit access to care, and affect the overall safety of the neighborhood. Documentation of the on-the-ground impact of Arizona's law and similar state-level immigration policies is urgently needed. To inform effective policymaking, such research must be community engaged and include safety measures beyond the usual protocols. IN APRIL 2010, ARIZONA LEGislators passed the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act 1 (SB 1070). SB 1070 took unprecedented steps in the enforcement of immigration law by making failure to possess immigration documents a crime and expanding police power to detain persons suspected of being in the United States illegally. In subsequent months, a federal judge placed sections of the law under temporary injunction; however, by that point, a wide range of Arizona residents had begun feeling its impact. Although the stated target of SB 1070 was undocumented immigrants, the fallout from its passage has reverberated throughout Arizona communities, affecting not only the undocumented but also families, friends, and neighbors of all immigration statuses. An assessment of the long-term impact of SB 1070 and similar state-level immigration policies on public health is urgently needed. To date, the effects of these policies have not been systematically documented. Pilot data suggest that the passage of SB 1070 resulted in immediate changes in health behavior and health care use even before enforcement began.² Formal documentation of the unintended effects of laws such as Arizona’s SB 1070 should be undertaken to inform policymaking. Here we review the immigration policy context in which the Arizona law and copycat bills emerged and present data from an ethnographic case study that demonstrate the potential of such policies to adversely affect public health.