Citation

Negi NJ, Siegel J, Calderon M, Thomas E, Valdez A. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ajcp.12406

PMID

31821570

Abstract

Although recent rhetoric links undocumented immigrants to criminality, reports indicate undocumented immigrants commit less crime than their native-born counterparts and that this vulnerable group may be at increased risk for criminal victimization. Immigrants living in new immigrant settlement cities may be particularly at risk for exposure to criminal victimization due to the vulnerabilities associated with a lack of an established Latino community and limited availability of culturally appropriate social services to provide support. This ethnographic study examines the experiences of victimization and its social and psychological toll of a street-recruited sample of Latino day laborers (LDLs) (N = 25) living and working in Baltimore, a new immigrant settlement city.

FINDINGS elucidate and describe the specific types of victimization experienced by LDLs, including workplace victimization (wage theft, abandonment at the jobsite, poor working conditions, verbal abuse) and street-level victimization (assault and robbery), as well as reveal the social and psychological toll of victimization (sociocultural alienation, despair or desesperación, and problem drinking) on their lives.

FINDINGS have implications for community psychology, through research and practice, as they provide insights for prevention and intervention within the intersection of structural vulnerability (i.e., undocumented immigration status), violence, and mental health.

© 2019 Society for Community Research and Action.

Language: en

Keywords

Crime victimization; Immigrant mental health; Latino day laborers; Latino immigrants; Latino mental health; New immigrant settlements