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Mental health affects all, regardless of gender, culture, and socio-economic status. Despite the universal nature, many are unable to get the care they need because of a shortage of providers and the stigma surrounding the diagnoses. May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to erase this stigma and educate the public of all ages on the warning signs of mental illness. This month is even more meaningful for immigrants from around the world as our nations increasingly harsh immigration policies have harmed the mental and social well-being of millions of American children.

Roughly one in four American children younger than 18 live in immigrant families, and over four million U.S.-citizen children have at least one undocumented parent. A sense of safety and belonging is key to their psychological development. Feeling secure is critical to them thriving emotionally, academically and socially. Conversely, evidence has shown that adverse childhood experiences, like intense uncertainty and fear, are detrimental to their health.

Children of immigrantsthe large majority of whom are U.S. citizensare confronted daily with the effects of anti-immigrant policies, such as xenophobic comments shouted in public, bullying on the playground, and having a general feeling that they dont belong here. All of these lead to chronic, sometimes traumatizing, stress.

Researchers and clinicians have found that stress related to immigration can cause serious physical effects on smaller kids, including tantrums and bedwetting. Older children can become withdrawn, distracted, and even have stomachaches or insomnia. They may start performing poorly in school, avoiding school altogether, or acting out in rage.

As more children of immigrants become targets of bullying, such mistreatment may lead to children withdrawing socially, which prevents them from building healthy social relationships, a crucial element of their development. As one parent from the Los Angeles area recounted, My daughter is having nightmares. Kids are afraid to go to school. I do my best to keep the TV off. We are not criminals. We are just trying to create a better life for our children.

The harm is not restricted to children. Undocumented parents must plan for the devastating possibility of being detained or deported, including arranging for child custody and selling property. Studies also show that punitive immigration policies create a chilling environment where parents avoid public programs like Medicaid and SNAP, and steer clear of medical attention for fear of having their status reported. The absence of medical and nutritional support only worsens a familys well-being.

Harsh immigration enforcement can have long-lasting effects on children that arent immediately clear. When parents are gone, children are likely to fall into poverty, have unstable access to food and housing, and be funneled into the child welfare system, all of which predict poor educational and economic outcomes. Childhood trauma can also have a biological effect on youth that can lead to adult depression and Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS).

There is hope. A recent NCLR study has shown that Latino children of immigrants are often remarkably resilient when the right environments and support systems are in place to help them cultivate self-esteem, perseverance and a positive outlook.

Nelson Mandela famously said, There can be no keener revelation of a societys soul than the way in which it treats its children. Today, the administration and some lawmakers are choosing through inhumane immigration laws to separate children from their parents and instill deep anxiety and distress within immigrant communities, affecting the well-being of millions of American children for generations to come. Rather than rip apart hardworking parents from their children, our society should provide meaningful immigration reforms, and invest in these children. As one concerned eighth grade student recently wrote to his representative about his friends who live in fear:

What should I tell my fellow classmates? I hope that you can help lead us to a fair solution so that families are not separated.

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) represents Californias 40th Congressional District, and is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (D-Calif.) represents Californias 32nd Congressional District, and is the founder and chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), an immigrant and the first Indian American woman in the House of Representatives, represents Washingtons 7th District. Congresswomen Roybal-Allard and Jayapal are the co-chairs of the Womens Working Group on Immigration Reform.

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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Harsh U.S. immigration policies are causing mental, social harm to American children - The Hill (blog)

Jon Feere appears on a segment of C-Span on February 19, 2015. C-Span

"It should come as no surprise to anyone that he would then staff key positions with people who also fit outside the mainstream or who advocate for views that are more consistent with his campaign rhetoric than some moderate version," said John Hudak, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. "I think every president that has issue areas that are dear to them look for some of the most aggressive advocates to work on behalf of those issues."

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When asked about the hires, a White House official told NBC News, "The President campaigned on increased border security and enforcement of our nation's immigration laws and that's exactly what the administration has been focused on."

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, did not respond to NBC News' requests for comment.

Political appointments that reflect an administration's policy bent are not unusual and immigration hardliners defend the Trump administration's hires.

"If anything, it's more of a surprise that Trump hasn't hired more people from organizations like (Center for Immigration Studies) and FAIR," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.

However, immigration supporters worry that those hired wielded influence in the Washington immigration debate and helped scuttle comprehensive immigration reform efforts pushed by previous administrations.

"The courts are going to be very busy with immigration challenges over the next four years," said Steve Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University.

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Hispanic Caucus Calls on DHS to Remove Immigration Hardliner as Ombudsman - NBCNews.com

U.S. Apple Association leaders met with top Trump administration officials in late May to press the case for reform to the H-2A program and expanding trade opportunities.

U.S. Apple vice chairman Mark Boyer, owner of Ridgetop Orchards LLC, Fishertown, Pa., was joined by U.S. Apple president and CEO Jim Bair and senior vice president Diane Kurrle at the White House meeting, according to a news release. They met with Ray Starling, President Trumps special assistant for agriculture, trade and food assistance and Richard Chalkey, associate director of the National Economic Council, according to the release.

Boyer said he was encouraged by the meeting.

We, the apple industry, represent one link in a long list of industries and the communities and families they support whose livelihood depends on labor and open trade, Boyer said in the release. The apple industry cannot sustain itself, and our business will not survive long term unless we address labor reforms and future trade implications now.

Topics raised during the meeting included the gains the apple industry has experienced with the North American Free Trade Agreement, the need for an overhaul of the H-2A visa program, and the continued importance of adhering to science-based rules in regulating trade in apples, according to the release.

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Apple leaders make case for expanded trade, immigration reform - The Packer

Submitted by Sitara Nath

And what makes this country great for me, as an immigrant and now, a United States citizen, is really that America is a place I can finally call home, said Meenu Nath, a local Olympia constituent and one of the 12 community members who lobbied Congressmen Denny Hecks Lacey office for compassionate immigration reform on Thursday, May 18. The combination of leaders, local activists and faith-based organizations came together to ask Representative Heck to cosponsor the BRIDGE Act, a bipartisan bill which will protect young, undocumented immigrants if their protected status is revoked.

The visit was organized by Sitara Nath, a local community organizer who takes part in the Advocacy Corps Intern Program with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a DC based Quaker lobbyist group in the public interest. Last year, after attending a conference in Washington D.C. just days after the presidential election, Naths interest in compassionate immigration reform grew stronger as anti-immigrant rhetoric continued emanating from the White House. Now back in Olympia, Nath has teamed up with the Strengthening Sanctuary Faith Network, a local coalition of faith activists who seek to support immigrant communities in the area. Dallas Roberts, the congressmans district representative, met with the constituents and reiterated the power of stories in immigration advocacy.

What we really need is people like all of you out there and sharing these stories with other members of Congress as well it would really support the Representative if other Washington leaders were united on this issue, said Roberts, who also noted that the Representative is supportive of the BRIDGE Act but, due to the bipartisan nature of the bill, needs a Republican congressional member to sign on alongside him.

At the visit, the constituents discussed their personal stories in relation to the BRIDGE Act in an effort to bring politics back to personal roots. Beth Halpern, a member of Strengthening Sanctuary and an ally through the Temple Beth Hatfiloh, shared a moving story of a young woman she is acquainted with who has excelled in her education but is restricted from further pursuing her dreams due to her undocumented status.

Charo Portaro, the Director of Educational Programs at CIELO (Central Integral Educativo de Olympia) also joined the visit to discuss how the Congressmans legislative decisions impact the immigrant communities she works with.

We are working to change lives through education, said Portaro of the programs which CIELO offers, including English classes, GED preparation courses and sewing classes, to build support for immigrant families in Olympia. Portaro concluded firmly that, This is an issue which comes down to our basic humanity and thats why I am here thats why we want the Representative to support this issue.

You can learn more about CIELO and their volunteer-based programs by visiting the CIELO websiteor by emailingcieloproject@comcast.net. You can also find information regarding the Strengthening Sanctuary Faith Network, which provides Know Your Rights training and Family Safety Planning, through the local Interfaith Works newsletter. To contact Sitara Nath about local lobbying opportunities for compassionate immigration reform, you can email her at sitaranath@gmail.com.

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Olympia Community Members Advocate for Compassionate Immigration Reform - ThurstonTalk

Hiring in IT is already a challenge due to a small talent pool, and each day is an indication that this struggle will worsen. Turn on the TV or open an internet browser and youll quickly discover yet another news item regarding U.S. immigration policies. Flooded by so many proposed changes, opinions, analyzations, and court decisions, the topic has become a murky river that we are all floating down but cannot see through. In an effort to grasp a clearer picture of whats happening and what it means for you, lets take a step back and look at how immigration reform is impacting IT staffing.

The current H-1B visa process was designed as a lottery system allowing 85,000 total visas to be granted each year. While on the surface it sounds simple, this system has descended into chaos due to outdated laws that see poor monitoring and enforcement. There are widely known ways to abuse the system. Large offshore firms flood the program with tens of thousands of applications, greatly increasing their success rate in being granted H-1B visas compared to the U.S companies that are playing by the rules. And thats just the start.

These large Asian firms are not only receiving an unjustly large majority of the allotted visas, but they are blatantly violating U.S. law and treating genuinely hard-working immigrant workers unfairly. In many instances, they will pay a worker a fraction of the appropriate salary reported to the government. These workers also have seen their paychecks cut off until a client pays their employer, which is a distinct violation of labor law.

Still worse, firms with ill-intent have gone even further, knowingly bringing over workers that lack the necessary skills for success by faking resumes and references. A worker could be forced to live in a company-owned housing complex, pay 60% of their salary back to that company in rent, and have no idea that they are being taken advantage of. These workers are often abandoned by such firms, which wont sponsor them for an extension or green card so that the firm can profit from the turnover. Such turn-and-burn abuse has been allowed to flourish due to a lack of regulatory oversight.

Love it or hate it, there are many proposed H-1B visa changes meant to curb such abuse through stricter enforcement, raising fees, improving site visits, and more. Executive orders cannot change laws on their own and have simply been calling for congress to review how current legislation is being enforced, especially in relation to the lottery system. While 85,000 visas are granted each year, those three-year visas can be renewed for three more plus a one year extension, effectively making them valid for seven years.

Its currently estimated that there are up to 900,000 H-1B visas currently employed in the United States, a number that the government itself cant even pinpoint. On top of this, a large number of those visa holders have spouses that have been granted an H-4 visa, allowing them to work just like any American citizen. There are believed to be roughly 250,000 people on this type of spouse visa, and the government is currently looking to reverse the 2015 measures that made these visas possible.

Additionally, premium processing of H-1B visas has been suspended, curtailing the ability to pay a larger fee for an expedited visa. However, any larger-scale changes congress passes will take longer to be implemented, as its already too late to change processes for 2018. With court interpretations and rulings constantly being delayed and congress debating endlessly, the chaos has proliferated to dangerous levels.

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In the midst of potential change, organizations are already considering their hiring alternatives. Studies show 59% of companies will consider offshoring as a solution, as it can provide cheaper access to international tech talent. Major Asian firms such as Infosys and TCS are already preparing for an onslaught of offshoring requests by investing in and building new offshore data centers. Likewise, U.S. companies with global presences will consider hiring more employees in their non-U.S. locations.

Unfortunately, there is no practical way for the U.S. government to punish or curtail such activities. An employee of Walmart working abroad is still the employee of an American company. Likewise, combatting offshoring by issuing fines will paralyze entire organizations. If they cannot find talent inside the U.S. already, are not allowed to bring in the candidates they need on a visa, and cannot affordably outsource their work, then they would be left with zero options. Roles would never get filled, productivity would slow to a halt, and financial statements would quickly suffer.

Even before any major reform has become law, there has already been a distinct impact to IT hiring. A chilling effect is discouraging talented tech minds from coming to America. In fact, this years 199,000 H-1B visa applications are a distinct drop from the 236,000 received in 2016. Imagine all the bright IT talent from renown tech hubs such as India deciding to take their skills to Europe and encouraging their children to follow suit. The repercussions to the U.S. IT staffing landscape could be long-lasting.

Further, those great tech minds that are currently here are hesitant of transferring their visa to another company out of fear they will lose their work status. Many of these workers will be stuck, continuing to work for large offshore body shop firms that are mistreating them. Bright talent in these situations often receive unwarranted blame for a system that can work if regulated appropriately. The huge amount of H-1B and H-4 workers are contributing heavily to the U.S. economy, and calls for eliminating these legal, tax-paying workers that are purchasing homes, leasing cars, pursuing higher education, and buying local goods will have a massive negative effect on American businesses.

Overall, the chaos surrounding H-1B visa reform is making it harder for employers to quickly locate the right talent out of a smaller base of workers, magnifying the current talent shortage. As talk of changes scare newcomers away and current visas expire for others, the dwindling talent pool is likely to make skilled talent less available and more costly for tech employers. Businesses can attempt to offshore or ramp up their internal training and career path development, but without better regulation and thoughtful change, hiring in IT will become more of a struggle than ever.

Understanding immigration reform and deciding how to curb exploitative practices seems to be difficult for even lawmakers. Its an unclear and rapidly changing area that is already affecting every business in the country, especially those that hire tech workers. But why deal with the confusion surrounding IT staffing when you should be focusing on your core business? The right staffing partner can take this burden off your shoulders and provide you with the talent you need quickly, regardless of changing laws.

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How Immigration Reform Is Impacting IT Staffing - Business 2 Community