A Generation at Risk: The Threats to California in the Current Immigration Landscape. Issue Brief. No. 30

In its 2019 report, "Beyond the Border: Family Separation in the Trump Era" (see ED603926), UnidosUS demonstrates how the current trajectory of the nation's immigration policies is threatening the future of an entire generation of American children. Today, 80% of Latinos are U.S. citizens and half of those remaining are legal permanent residents. A growing body of research finds that indiscriminate immigration enforcement reaches well beyond immigrant families, affecting Americans of Hispanic descent and their communities by harming their physical and mental health, undermining their trust in government, and stoking fear for their families' safety. This issue brief on California is part of a series that builds on this analysis by exploring the stakes at the state level if the immigration policy status quo prevails. It compiles available population estimates to sketch a portrait of children in California's Latino immigrant families. The implications of restrictionist immigration policies extend well beyond harming children and their families in California: the long-term economic, social, and political health and vibrancy of the nation is at stake.