Winter 2026 Issue

In Case of Detention
By Sue Coyle, MSW
Social Work Today
Vol. 26 No. 1 P. 16

Social workers must have the knowledge and resources they need to offer support to their clients at risk or in fear of detention and deportation.

Over the past many months, social workers have likely given more thought than usual to the way in which immigration status may impact their clients as individuals and families. Whether they work in immigration services or in other sectors of social work, they may be looking to signal and offer support to those clients who are concerned about the possibility of detention and deportation. Immigration and immigration enforcement have, after all, been front page throughout the country since the start of 2025.

But it is not only when all eyes are on the topic that social workers should be acting to support their clients in this way. Immigration is not a new focus. Deportations happen every year. In fact, the Migration Policy Institute reported that between fiscal years 2020 and 2024, 352,000 individuals were deported from the United States each year. As such, social workers should be as prepared as possible to offer resources, emotional support, and practical planning to individuals regarding immigration status and documentation.

“This information is always important for social workers whether they are working specifically with immigrant communities or in other settings where they may interact with immigrant clients, because deportations are going to happen under any federal administration. Immigration enforcement and immigration policies have been a clear focus of all federal administrations in recent history,” says Mary Lehman Held, PhD, LCSW, interim PhD program director and associate professor at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville College of Social Work. “So this information is not only for times when we are seeing the more visible enforcement push. This information is essential at all times.”

Preparing the Social Worker
For social workers to offer sound, quality support to their clients, they must prepare themselves, building an understanding of the situation and their role.

“The first thing social workers need is a solid grounding in our ethical responsibilities,” says Hyojin Im, PhD, MSW, MA, associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. “Many immigrant and undocumented clients already live with deep mistrust of systems, so being upfront about confidentiality and about what we can and cannot disclose is essential. I always tell students that if you cannot explain confidentiality limits in plain, everyday language, you are not ready to work with this population. I would also add that we need real legal literacy—not to give legal advice, but so we can point people toward the right help.”

Social workers should be knowledgeable about immigration procedures and policies regarding enforcement and deportation, as well. This goes hand in hand with the understanding of confidentiality limits Im mentions, as changes to policy may affect social workers’ organizations and what they may or may not encounter from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. For example, as of January 2025, ICE officers are no longer prohibited from taking enforcement actions in previously designated “sensitive locations” such as health care facilities. That does not mean, however, that individuals in, for example, health care facilities can or should violate professional policies when such actions occur.

NASW explains, “Social workers in health care environments must be vigilant in protecting patient confidentiality, as mandated by HIPAA. HIPAA prohibits covered entities from sharing protected health information, which includes immigration status, with law enforcement unless an exception applies.” It further states that “If ICE agents request access to patient information or attempt to conduct enforcement actions within a health care facility, social workers should verify the legal authority of such requests by consulting with their institution’s legal department or an attorney licensed in their state to ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations.”1

Similar advice would apply to social workers in any setting bound by HIPAA or a similar law, such as the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects the privacy of students in public schools, colleges, and universities, as well as many in private schools who receive federal funding.

Along with national policies and procedures, which have been changing, social workers should take the time to be aware of what is happening related to immigration throughout the country and locally. Without a baseline level of knowledge about the state of affairs, social workers cannot begin to comprehend the emotional weight clients are feeling or offer practical support.

“Some social workers tell me ‘I don’t watch the news.’ You have to watch the news! What do you mean you aren’t watching the news? I know it’s painful, but there are things that happen daily. Even if you don’t work with [immigrant populations] just be knowledgeable, because a lot of these things, one way or another, are going to affect an individual or a family or a group,” says Fabiola Hamdan, MSSW, a social worker in Wisconsin with experience in immigration services. “It’s important.”

Held also recommends that social workers take any reputable trainings available, such as the Know Your Rights Training. “These are trainings that help families to know what steps they can take if ICE shows up. If they encounter immigration enforcement, what can they do? What should they not do from a legal standpoint? Knowing these steps better empowers immigrants and their family members,” she explains. For the social worker, the training allows them to have a foundational understanding of individuals’ rights, which in turn enables them to further empower their clients to be self-advocates. The Know Your Rights Training also has printable multilingual resources that social workers can put in their offices for clients.

The Local Landscape
It is not just national or nationally available information that social workers need. They must be cognizant of what is happening in their state and community to be able to fully support their clients. This means knowing what resources are available locally—both the organizations that clearly offer immigration services and those that may not be as obvious.

“Social workers should know the community networks around them, like local ethnic community-based organizations (E-CBOs), Catholic Charities, Asian or Latinx community centers, African immigrant associations, and the Islamic centers and churches that often provide quiet but powerful support. These are not ‘extra’ resources. They are the backbone of the safety nets that help immigrant families survive and stay connected,” Im says.

Doing so may take some legwork, but it is vital, Hamdan says. “For me it was really important to immerse myself,” she explains. She notes that when she was first learning about the resources in her county, she would go to every event and meeting that she could—not only attending but participating and asking questions: “What is your agency doing? How does your agency work with undocumented individuals or immigrant populations? How can we collaborate? By doing that, I feel that I not only [went] and asked questions, but I got to say ‘Hey, if you want to do something about it, I can help.’”

In addition to resources, social workers need to keep an eye on what is happening with immigration enforcement and laws in their towns, counties, and states by, “Knowing what is happening in the community and how that’s going to affect work with immigrants and how that’s going to affect the risks that immigrants are facing,” Held says. “Staying up to date through partnerships with immigrant serving organizations on when immigration or ICE activity is happening gives us a sense of where ICE is, what’s happening in the community, and how high that fear is going to be in the community. Of course, if there’s more ICE activity nearby, the fear will escalate substantially.”

Even closer to home, social workers should take the time to reflect on the individuals they serve. Most social workers are not employed by an immigrant-serving organization. But that does not mean that their clients are not themselves immigrants or do not have family members and community members who are. Recognizing that simple fact will allow them to take the preparation they have done and turn it into real support.

Planning for the Possibility
Of course, the preparation of the social worker is only a small part of what needs to be done. The individuals and families fearing or at risk for detention and deportation also need to prepare.

To do that effectively, the trauma they are experiencing and the weight of their fear must be recognized. “When a social worker is supporting someone who is at risk of deportation or living that fear every day, the first responsibility is to slow down and truly understand what that fear feels like for the client,” Im says. “Many people carry this worry quietly for months or years, and they are often doing everything they can to hold their families together. I begin by acknowledging the emotional weight of what they are living with. Fear of deportation is not abstract. It touches their sleep, their appetite, their concentration, and their basic sense of safety in the world.” She remembers a father who carried with him always a small backpack containing his documents and essentials for the family just in case, as well as a mother who is a refugee who could only get her children to sleep if she lay between them. After an ICE raid nearby, the children feared their mother would disappear.

Held adds that it is not just the trauma of now but also what may have come before that is affecting clients. “It is important to understand that many immigrants experience hardship and trauma in their home country, trauma during the journey to the United States, and are facing stress and trauma with the fear and risk of deportation, seeing the arrests that are happening, and maybe already having had somebody in their life experience arrest or deportation.”

Social workers must address this first and then they can focus on helping the family plan for the worst, coming up with steps families can take to be prepared. “Those can be safety plans, emergency plans, how to arrange care for children of parents who are detained or deported, knowing who the emergency contacts are, having a power of attorney in place, having passports for US citizens, including children,” Held lists. She recommends helping clients identify one key person they can contact if able who will then start the phone tree that will activate the plan.

A key part of that plan is communication with those trusted to assist or who will be affected by an individual’s detainment. This includes children. “You may think that they don’t understand, but they do understand,” Hamdan emphasizes. “Be conscious about that. Kids are going to hear everything. Every day, we hear school social workers saying this kid is afraid about their parents or the parents aren’t sending their kids to school.” Talking to them honestly not only helps ground fears but prepares the children should those fears be realized.

In Case of Detention
If an individual is detained and a social worker is in a position to assist their family members, the first step is emotional support. “We want to really just be present with them as they’re coping with the fear and the distress, helping to normalize the reactions which are often going to be shock, panic,” Held says. “They may feel guilty that they’re free while their loved one is detained or worry that they did something that brought attention to the family. That initial role is emotional support and listening and being present. Very quickly, once we’re able to follow that, especially with adults, it is working to ensure safety for children and any dependents.”

Ensuring the safety of the children may include helping to contact the school, reaching out to temporary caregivers and, if necessary, child welfare. The family will also need to assess their financial needs, as many of those detained are wage earners for their households. A decrease in pay can be hard felt, particularly if a detention lasts several weeks/months or culminates in a deportation. Social workers can help connect families in need with community supports to help them through. Connections should also be made with legal supports.

“For the person who is detained,” Im says, “support often begins with restoring connection. Many describe detention as a place where time no longer feels real. They are cut off from basic information, unsure of how their case is progressing, and left imagining what is happening to their children or partner. Some say they feel like they have disappeared from public life altogether.

“One of the first practical steps is helping families understand how to locate their loved one through the ICE Detainee Locator System, since not knowing where someone is being held can heighten fear. From there, walking families through how to navigate the phone system, how to send messages, and how to stay connected with attorneys becomes more than logistics. It becomes a psychological anchor,” she continues.

It is impossible for a social worker to feel fully prepared, to have all the resources and support an individual or family may need when at risk of detainment and deportation. It is even more impossible for an individual or family to feel that way. But with the right preparation and planning, they’ll at least know that they are trying.

— Sue Coyle, MSW, is a freelance writer in the Philadelphia suburbs.

RESOURCES
To do all this—from preparation to planning to support—social workers need quality, informative resources at their disposal. What that looks like locally will be different for every community and social workers should, as Hamdan described, immerse themselves in the networks that already exist, building and adding on as necessary.

Nationally, social workers have many options including but not limited to the following:

• Immigrant Legal Resource Center (www.ilrc.org);

• Immigration Advocates Network (www.immigrationadvocates.org);

• Immigration Law Help (www.immigrationlawhelp.org);

• National Immigration Law Center (www.nilc.org);

• National Immigration Legal Services Directory (www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory);

• National Immigrant Justice Center (https://immigrantjustice.org); and

• NASW (www.socialworkers.org) and NASW Legal Defense Fund (www.socialworkers.org/About/
Legal-Defense-Fund).

Reference
1. Fox A, Pettway C. Navigating ICE presence in school and healthcare facilities. NASW website. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Legal-Defense-Fund/Legal-Issues/Navigating-ICE-Presence-in-School-and-Healthcare-Facilities#:~:text=Complying%20with%20HIPAA,
ensure%20compliance%20with%20HIPAA%20regulations. Published February 2025. Accessed January 22, 2026.