Comprehensive Study and effect of Immigration Law on Family Relationships
Keywords:
Family reunification, Immigration law, Deportation, Psychological impact, Migration policyAbstract
The research examines how various aspects of immigration laws influence family relationships by studying how the law interacts with cross-border experiences of the families. The law on immigration receives very keen interest in whose family members will reunite through what conditions and expresses how long such a reunification will take. This study would try to learn the socio-legal, psychological, and emotional consequences of immigration policies over families, mainly in the contexts of deportation, detention, or delay in family sponsorship.
Employing qualitative methodologies, this research paper analyses the secondary data with peer-reviewed articles, legal documents, and reports of international organizations published within the last five years. It includes Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory and Social Capital Theory in explaining how laws marginalize family life.
In the end, immigration laws that are considered very stringent tend to lead to much more emotional distress, instability, and long-term separation from families. The brunt of these effects is borne by children, as often their development will be affected due to disrupted family environments. Finally, this research paper throws recommendations toward a humane immigration reform. These include uniformity in legal practice, fast-tracking reunion, and trauma-informed legal services provision.
In sum, this research adds to the existing literature in human rights and immigration justice, using this forum to implore policy-makers to factor family integrity as a core sterling in any humane migration policy.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Bohr, J., & Whitaker, M. (2021). A nation of immigrants? The framing of immigration in American political discourse. Social Science Quarterly, 102(2), 821–837. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12903
Brabeck, K. M., & Xu, Q. (2020). Immigration policy and mental health among Latino youth. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(6), 1659–1671. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01615-w
Pecoud, A. (2020). Narrating an ideal migration order: From border control to migration management. Third World Quarterly, 41(1), 24–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2019.1660633
Wray, H. (2021). The family, the state and the right to family reunification. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 35(1), ebab002. https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebab002
Atak, I., & Simeon, J. C. (2021). COVID-19 and immigration detention in Canada: What are the implications for rights, health and access to justice? International Migration, 59(5), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12831
Benhabib, S. (2022). Rights of others: Migration, gender and subjectivity. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(3), 519–531. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2027373
Bhabha, J. (2020). Child migration and human rights in a global age. Princeton University Press.
Chaudry, A., Capps, R., Pedroza, J. M., Castañeda, R. M., Santos, R., & Scott, M. M. (2020). Facing our future: Children in the aftermath of immigration enforcement. The Urban Institute.
Clark-Kazak, C. (2021). Social capital in refugee resettlement: Intersections of age and gender. Refuge, 37(1), 52–64. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40720
Groenendijk, K. (2020). Family reunification as a human right: Lessons from European Union law. European Journal of Migration and Law, 22(1), 10–31. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718166-12340070
Menjívar, C., Enríquez, L. E., & Roach, R. (2019). The legal production of illegality: Central American asylum seekers and the rise of “crimmigration”. Latino Studies, 17(3), 357–376. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-019-00209-y
Suárez-Orozco, C., Motti-Stefanidi, F., & Marks, A. K. (2022). Immigrant-origin children and youth in the 21st century: A global perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 73, 497–519. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-020821-121730
Weiss, M., & Jafari, M. (2024). Impact of immigration laws on family reunification: Narratives from affected families. Interdisciplinary Studies in Society, Law, and Politics, 3(2), 11–17. https://doi.org/10.61838/kman.isslp.3.2.3journalisslp.com
Palander, J., Baraka, U., Gustafsson, H., et al. (2023). International human rights frameworks in relation to national family reunification policy and administrative practice. In M. Tiilikainen, J. Hiitola, A. A. Ismail, & J. Palander (Eds.), Forced Migration and Separated Families (pp. 15–40). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24974-7_2eprints.whiterose.ac.uk+1SpringerLink+1
Daniel, M., & Skaga, Ø. (2025). Politics for exclusion and strategies for inclusion: A scoping review of Nordic family reunification policies, practices, and impact on refugees. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 15(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.33134/njmr.785Nordic Journal of Migration Research+1Nordic Journal of Migration Research+1
Palander, J. (2023). Family reunification restrictions and the politics of belonging in Finland. Retfærd: Nordisk Juridisk Tidsskrift, 175(1), 43–55. https://erepo.uef.fi/handle/123456789/29442Erepo
Hampton, K., Raker, E., Habbach, H., Camaj Deda, L., Heisler, M., & Mishori, R. (2021). The psychological effects of forced family separation on asylum-seeking children and parents at the US-Mexico border: A qualitative analysis of medico-legal documents. PLoS ONE, 16(11), e0259576. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259576PMC+1PubMed+1
House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee. (2023). All families matter: An inquiry into family migration. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/ldjusthom/144/14405.htmParliament Publications
Migration Observatory. (2022). The Minimum Income Requirement for Non-EEA Family Members in the UK. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/reports/the-minimum-income-requirement-for-non-eea-family-members-in-the-uk-2/Migration Observatory
Refugee and Migrant Centre. (2024). Financial requirements on family visas – their impact and the need for reform. https://rmcentre.org.uk/financial-requirements-on-family-visas-their-impact-and-the-need-for-reform/RM Centre
House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee. (2023). All families matter: An inquiry into family migration. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/ldjusthom/144/14405.htm
India Today. (2024, April 12). UK hikes family visa income requirement by 55% to control migration. https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/united-kingdom-uk-family-visa-minimum-income-requirement-british-visa-2526264-2024-04-12
Migration Policy Institute. (2021). U.S. Family-Based Immigration Policy: Barriers to Reunification.
Kronick, R. (2018). The impact of punitive immigration policies, parent–child separation and child detention on the mental health and development of children. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 2(1), e000338. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000338
Teen Vogue. (2023, September 15). Asylum Seekers Need More Access to Translation Services for Indigenous, Marginalized Languages. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/asylum-seekers-translation-access
Canada.ca. (2024, September 11). Sponsor your family members to immigrate to Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship.html
Human Rights Watch. (2021, November 3). Dismantling Detention: International Alternatives to Detaining Immigrants. https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/11/03/dismantling-detention/international-alternatives-detaining-immigrants
Westermann, H., & Benyekhlef, K. (2023, July 27). JusticeBot: A Methodology for Building Augmented Intelligence Tools for Laypeople to Increase Access to Justice. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.02032
Panchal, D., Gole, A., Narute, V., & Joshi, R. (2025, February 23). LawPal: A Retrieval Augmented Generation Based System for Enhanced Legal Accessibility in India. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.16573
San Francisco Chronicle. (2025, March 15). Alameda County to spend $3.5 million defending immigrants Trump wants to deport. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/alameda-county-immigrant-deport-20216246.php
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). (2024). Evaluation of the Family Reunification Program. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/evaluations/evaluation-family-reunification-program.html
MacLean, S. A., Agyeman, P., Walther, J., Singer, E., & Baranowski, K. A. (2019). Impact of punitive immigration policies, parent-child separation and child detention on the mental health and development of children. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 3(1), e000401. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000401
Brabeck, K. M., & Xu, Q. (2020). Immigration policy and mental health among Latino youth. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(6), 1659–1671. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01615-w
Hampton, K., Raker, E., Habbach, H., Camaj Deda, L., Heisler, M., & Mishori, R. (2021). The psychological effects of forced family separation on asylum-seeking children and parents at the US-Mexico border: A qualitative analysis of medico-legal documents. PLOS ONE, 16(11), e0259576. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259576
Daniel, M., & Skaga, Ø. (2025). Politics for exclusion and strategies for inclusion: A scoping review of Nordic family reunification policies, practices, and impact on refugees. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 15(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.33134/njmr.785
Palander, J. (2023). Family reunification restrictions and the politics of belonging in Finland. Retfærd: Nordisk Juridisk Tidsskrift, 175(1), 43–55. https://erepo.uef.fi/handle/123456789/29442
Clark-Kazak, C. (2021). Social capital in refugee resettlement: Intersections of age and gender. Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees, 37(1), 52–64. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40720
Suárez-Orozco, C., Motti-Stefanidi, F., & Marks, A. K. (2022). Immigrant-origin children and youth in the 21st century: A global perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 73, 497–519. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-020821-121730
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
