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This paper examines the experiences of adolescents from mixed migratory status families affected by deportation. We analyze the impacts on their mental and emotional health when they are separated from one parent in the United States, forcibly displaced with another to Oaxaca, and experience the consequences of their deportation in Mexico. We use a qualitative and ethnographic methodology. This paper focuses on data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 15 parents who had been deported from the United States and 53 adolescents who moved with them to Mexico. The data was collected between 2018 and 2020. The main findings show the existence of emotions that are sustained in the transnational flow and acquire new nuances upon return. They also show the emergence of new conditions related to family separation, all of which have an impact on the adolescents' well-being and on important areas of their lives, such as education. The research contributes to knowledge in two main ways: 1) it addresses the impacts of parental deportation on the well-being of adolescents in mixed-status families, which have typically focused on children; 2) it studies how parental deportation affects the mental and emotional health of adolescents de facto deported to Mexico, a field still little studied. • De facto deportation has mental health consequences among adolescents. • The forced nature of de facto deportation produces helplessness, aggression and anger. • The code of silence associated with deportation generates fear, stress, anxiety. • Ambiguous loss is accentuated at important moments in academic and developmental life. • Family separation and de facto deportation affect school performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Latinx and Indigenous Mexican populations in the United States Southwest live in unincorporated communities in the US-Mexico borderlands called colonias. These environmental justice communities often lack basic infrastructure, including healthcare services, prompting many to seek services across the border. However, due to geopolitical factors more vulnerable caregivers are limited to utilize healthcare services in the US. This paper reports the experiences and healthcare decision-making of caregivers living in colonias in the US-Mexico border region who care for children with respiratory health conditions. This study was carried out from September to December 2020. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with Latinx and Indigenous Mexican caregivers of children with asthma or respiratory distress. Qualitative interviews elicited caregivers' perspectives on the environmental factors affecting children's chronic health conditions and use of healthcare services. The analysis employed the concept of structure vulnerability to theorize geography as a structural determinant of health for caregivers faced with making healthcare decisions for their suffering from respiratory health conditions. A survey was administered to collect basic sociodemographic information. A total of 36 caregivers participated in the study. Structural factors including unincorporated community status and government inaction intersected with social determinants of health to prompt caregivers to cross the US-Mexico border to access healthcare services in Mexico for their children. Yet, more vulnerable caregivers (i.e., those without documentation status in the US) and their children, accessing healthcare services in the US was not an option limiting caregivers' ability to meet their children's healthcare needs. In such cases, geography acts as a structural determinant of health. This study shows the importance of geography in health. Rural unincorporated colonias located in the borderlands are precariously located and lack basic critical infrastructure including healthcare access. Within such places, historically and socially marginalized populations become invisible, are subject to the health effects of environmental hazards, and are limited depending on their positionality and thus vulnerability to healthcare services. • Municipal unincorporation contributes to health disparities among Latinx families in US-Mexico borderlands. • Latinx children in colonias are disproportionately exposed to environmental toxins. • Geography acts as a structural determinant of health for Latinx families in colonias. • A binational approach to health services should be prioritized for families in the borderlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]