The third piece in a new reporting series called Silent Battles, which focuses on the mental health of the American immigrant, refugee, and asylum communities, was written by the editor. We started the project in Chicago, which has the fourth-largest immigrant population in the nation and was founded by a Haitian immigrant. Palabra, a multimedia platform from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and MindSite News’ Chicago bureau collaborated on the series. Funding from the Field Foundation of Illinois makes it possible. On Palabra, this story was first published.
Nearly 200 people traveled to Chicago’s South Side for a gathering on a crucial subject: the mental health of immigrant communities in the Trump era, less than two weeks after American voters chose to reinstate former President Donald Trump. They came to discuss and plan, but more than anything, many of them needed a place to heal so they could be more stable for the hard organizing and work that lay ahead.
Community advocate Mar a Velazquez, executive director of the Telpochcalli Community Education Project in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, led a healing circle and led participants into a welcoming area with Susana Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzin Ba uelos, an Aztec/Mexica dancer of Native American heritage.
The mood was set by a tapestry with fringed ends and a blue flower embroidered on the floor in the middle of the circle. On top are objects that symbolize the four fundamental components of Native American cultures: clay mugs for water, a conch shell for wind, and maize husks for the harvest of the ground. Although there was no fire, the participants’ enthusiasm filled the room with coziness.
Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzin Ba uelossaid, “We know that we can’t always solve problems, avoid wars, and avoid conflicts, but people can create healing in difficult times.” In order to break the ice, she provided a number of discussion starters, and participants spent a few minutes in pairs talking quietly to one another about their favorite game from childhood.
Participants in a healing circle led by Susana Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzin Ba uelos exchange thoughts on recovery and unity. The Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health Palabra provided the image, which was taken by Hannah Smith.
In response to the second, more deeper question, participants related an instance in which they felt a deep connection based on truth, love, and solidarity with someone who was not of their own race, gender, or community.
According to Maria Ferrera, co-founder of the Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health, which organized the gathering, healing circles can be a type of community-led mutual aid for recently arrived immigrants who do not have health insurance or the funds to pay for services. This allows communities to heal themselves. We are aware that people frequently lack access to mental health care.
The gathering, which took place on November 15 in the midst of growing concerns about mass deportations and family separations, sought to promote resilience and provide useful tactics to the community advocates, social workers, clinicians, and nonprofit staff who offer mental health and other services to Chicago’s immigrant communities.
A panel of academics and city leaders kicked off the event by stressing the pressing necessity for post-election action.Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed Beatriz Ponce de Le n, a longstanding social services administrator, as the city’s first-ever deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant, and refugee rights last year. She assured the gathering that the city would defend and safeguard immigrants and newcomers.
Chicago’s deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant, and refugee rights, Beatriz Ponce de León, on the left, gets ready to participate in a panel during the 4th Annual Convening of the Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health. Hannah Smith’s photo, provided by the Coalition for Immigrant Mental HealthThe Palabra
Ponce de Len declared, “We will continue to uphold our welcoming city ordinance and the protection of undocumented individuals.” When Mayor Harold Washington issued an executive order in 1985 prohibiting city personnel from aiding federal immigration enforcement efforts and promising that city services would not be withheld on the basis of immigrant status, Chicago became the first city to declare itself a sanctuary. Since then, five mayors in a row have pledged to safeguard immigrants, including those without documentation and those seeking asylum, and to avoid assisting federal agents.
People will challenge us, even in Chicago, and it’s going to be difficult,” de Len stated. Therefore, I believe that we must all be prepared to support that ordinance with unwavering stance.
In a press conference on November 12, Mayor Johnson reiterated his dedication to defending immigrants, even at the expense of federal assistance. “We’re not going to bend or break,” Johnson declared. Our principles will continue to be solid and unwavering. Over the following four years, we will probably encounter obstacles in our work, but we won’t let them stop us or turn back.
In order to support immigrant communities, other panelists urged advocates to keep creating welcoming spaces, remove language barriers that prevent migrants from accessing services and information, and, most importantly, collaborate with public officials and congressional representatives to protect the needs and rights of immigrants.
Susana Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzin Ba uelos and Mar a Velazquez held a healing circle with indigenous objects put in its center, encouraging healing and connection among immigrant advocates. The Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health Palabra provided the image, which was taken by Hannah Smith.
Melissa Morgan, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, stated that the stakes are quite high. According to her, the attacks that are currently being directed at immigrants can result in severe mental health problems including melancholy, anxiety, and hopelessness, which can lead to long-term physical health problems and a rise in suicide rates.
In an era of widespread misinformation and disinformation, immigrant communities in the United States have frequently been the focus of offensive and harmful myths and lies that have been disseminated on social media, such as the ones about Haitians consuming pets that Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, emphasized.
According to Dana Rusch, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago and head of its Immigrant Family Mental Health Advocacy Program, these kinds of myths and lies seriously impair the physical and mental health of immigrant families and children. Even among groups that might not be threatened by deportation or other legal measures, they can skew parents’ perceptions of how welcome they are when combined with the fear of increased immigration enforcement, she said. According to her, this jeopardizes community health and child development while also escalating parents’ anxieties and raising psychological distress levels.
Mamadou Lamine Niang, a 23-year-old Senegalese immigrant who was raised on Chicago’s South Side, is a caseworker for an immigrant advocacy group that provides new Black immigrants with basic necessities including asylum aid and English language support. In order to have a deeper understanding of the mental health of the immigrants he encounters on a daily basis, he attended the conference.
Niang discussed at the conference how the connection between African-Americans and immigrants in Chicago is being strained by false information about immigration. “The city’s historical failure to address the needs of long-term Black residents intersects with the arrival of migrants and the placement of many on the South Side, creating fertile ground for misinformation,” he added. To further divide groups who have comparable difficulties, some community members, for instance, think migrants receive preferential treatment, such as faster access to resources like housing or food aid.
Speaking on his work as a caseworker for an immigrant advocacy group, Mamadou Lamine Niang offers insights into the mental health issues that the recently arrived immigrants he helps deal with. The Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health Palabra provided the image, which was taken by Hannah Smith.
Niang is well aware of the city’s long-standing disregard for the South Side, where Black citizens have long borne the effects of underfunding.
For instance, I’ve always wanted to play soccer, but when I arrived here, the only location to do so was up north, like all the way to the suburbs, Niang remarked. He would take several buses and trains to the suburbs, where there were options but they were expensive, to play and try out for teams. The South Side should have access to those kids’ possibilities, those lovely libraries, and those lovely soccer grounds.
The efforts of volunteers in organizations like the Mobile Migrant Health Team (MMHT) to offer assistance and medical care to recent newcomers were also emphasized at the conference. The University of Illinois Chicago’s third-year medical student Sara Izquierdo founded the mobile team in 2023 with help from UI Health family medicine physician Dr. Evelyn Figueroa. The team enlists volunteer medical students to provide medical services to migrant families in the Chicago region. Many of the migrants suffered from severe living conditions, were ill or injured from their travels, or experienced health issues as a result of having their prescription drugs seized at the border. Since migrants started coming from Texas in busses in August 2022, the student-led squad has carried out this operation without assistance from the city.
The deputy mayor, Ponce de Len, admitted that the city’s early reaction to newcomers wasn’t flawless. Nevertheless, she added, the state of Illinois, Cook County, and the city collaborated to establish a shelter system, with assistance from organizations and volunteers. I’m rather pleased with what Chicago accomplished.
Undocumented Chicagoans and advocacy organizations have been instrumental in pressuring the city to bolster its immigration protection laws. Following a vigorous effort by immigration advocates, the 2012 Welcoming City Ordinance—which codified these protections—was passed during Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration.
In a 2017 march in Chicago’s Little Village, members of Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD) demonstrate their support for the immigrant community. Image source: OCADPalabra
Immigrant safety is another goal of state legislation like the Illinois Way Forward Act and the TRUST Act. Police cannot hold anyone without a court order based only on their immigration status, according to the Trust Act. In 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Illinois Way Forward Act, which forbids public and local contracts with the state’s immigrant detention facilities.
Resources for migrants, immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in need of mental health treatment have also been compiled by the Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health, the organization that hosted the meeting. The types of therapy given, whether there is a fee, payment choices, wait times, languages spoken at the facility, and whether a reference or identification is needed for an appointment are all listed in this bilingual directory of providers in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. In order to help people find these resources and legal services in Chicago and the surrounding areas, the coalition also created an interactive map.
Melissa Morgan, a psychology professor at UI-Urbana, resisted the increasing dejection that many individuals, including immigrants, were experiencing in the wake of the election at the conference. She brought up the concept of “radical hope,” which was coined by philosopher Jonathan Lear to characterize a type of hope that persists in the face of uncertainty and is based on the conviction that new meanings and ways of living might arise at periods of severe loss.
According to Morgan, “in psychology, we talk about radical hope and how we harness that is really important.” Look for small things that will help us keep going because if we all give up, nothing will change.
Award-winning Chicago-based bilingual journalist Alma Camposi is enthusiastic about sharing the experiences of immigrants in the United States. She was born in Mexico and traveled from Azusa, California, to the South Side of Chicago. Her art delves deeply into the reality of immigrants, documenting tales of everything from communal resilience to labor and mental health. She is a senior editor at South Side Weekly, writes for The Guardian, and oversees reporting for MindSite News’ Chicago office on the relationship between immigration and mental health. Additionally, her work has been featured in Univision, Crain’s Chicago Business, and WTTW.@alma_campos
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