Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School of Social Work

First Reader/Committee Chair

Dr. Jamal Appaih-Kubi

Abstract

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an administrative program that protects young immigrants from deportation while granting them access to education and employment. DACA recipients face challenges in accessing resources due to their temporary status and the unpredictability of immigration laws, leading to mental health risks from stigma, anxiety, and fear of deportation. However, little research has examined how DACA's instability and immigration politics affect psychological well-being and access to services over time. This study examines how restrictive immigration policies affect DACA and undocumented people's mental health and access to culturally responsive, trauma-informed mental health and social services. This critical race and ecological systems theories -based study investigate how systems, from individuals and families to community and political settings, affect DACA participants' resources and mental health. An explanatory mixed-methods design will be used, and snowball sampling will be used to recruit participants from community-based organizations, immigrant support programs, and university cultural centers. Approximately 150 will participate in the quantitative study, and 30 in the qualitative interviews. A questionnaire will measure demographics, impediments to care, stress, and mental health, and open-ended questions to record people's lived experiences with liminal legality and access to support. The quantitative portion will be analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests in SPSS, while qualitative responses will be thematically analyzed for stigma, policy instability, and help-seeking tendencies. The findings will explain the multidimensional hurdles affecting DACA recipients, identify them, and guide social work practice and policy to provide equitable, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed therapy for undocumented people.

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