Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Over 100 countries continue to detain and criminalize asylum-seekers, refugees, and other migrants (hereafter referred to as migrants) for crossing borders with the intent to seek refugee-an internationally recognized human right. Migrants, many of whom are women of reproductive age, are held in prisons or carceral centres while awaiting processing or deportation. Healthcare provided to migrants in Canadian and international detention centres has been deemed 'sub-standard' and 'dangerous.' Reports have detailed problematic outcomes including high rates of suicidality and depression, along with stillbirths, lack of prenatal care, and reduced access to abortion services. There is a paucity of empirical evidence documenting the health outcomes and lived experiences of migrant women who have encountered detention. This study will utilize Reproductive Justice and structural violence frameworks to examine the underlying systemic drivers of health-related harm and inequity among migrant women exposed to immigrant detention, with a particular focus on sexual and reproductive and mental and health. Based out of the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, this research will leverage two ongoing mixed-methods studies involving migrant women in Vancouver and at the U.S.-Mexico border. I will analyse data collected on migration, detention, socio-structural factors, and sexual and reproductive and mental health outcomes among migrant women in Vancouver (n=250) and at the U.S.-Mexico border (n=150) using logistic GEE regression. I will also conduct qualitative interviews with women in Vancouver (n=20) and at the U.S-Mexico border (n=20) using grounded theory methodology. This research will generate urgently needed evidence on the health consequences of immigrant detention. Findings will be shared with the global community through intensive KT including publications, plain language reports, policy briefs, and media targeting health, immigration, and human rights policymakers.