Based on the growing literature on the link between government policy and mental health, this article proposes a socio-ecological model to understand the way immigration policy and law enforcement specifically have become a key determinant of mental health among undocumented immigrants and their families. Based on the latest research on the subject, the article organizes and defines the spiral that goes from the main features of governmental immigration policy and law enforcement to the stressors they generate among the migrant community and mental health outcomes among different groups within it. It also considers the coping mechanisms migrants adopt to deal with their legal vulnerability, classifying them into those which worsen mental health outcomes and some which, paradoxically, make migrant communities resilient.

基于越来越多的关于政府政策与心理健康之间联系的文献，本文提出了一个社会生态模型，以了解移民政策和执法具体如何成为无证移民及其家人心理健康的关键决定因素。基于对该主题的最新研究，本文组织并定义了从政府移民政策和执法的主要特征到它们在移民社区中产生的压力源以及其中不同群体之间的心理健康结果的螺旋。它还考虑了移民为处理其法律脆弱性而采用的应对机制，将其分为那些使心理健康结果恶化的机制，以及自相矛盾地使移民社区具有复原力的机制。