Evidence 2: Reflection on Immigrants and Refugees

In my second piece of evidence for competency five I reflected on policies affecting

Immigrant and Refugee populations, therefore completing the second learning behavior of the

competency in which one had to assess how social welfare and economic policies impact the

delivery of and access to social services. I reflected on policies such as the Immigrant Reform

and Control Act 1986, in which employer sanctions were introduced causing an influx in

undocumented immigration. However this policy does not recognize undocumented immigrants’

rights to financial and health services, which has had a detrimental impact on this population’s

well-being. Since the creation of this reflection the political climate has grown more focused on

immigration policies. With the introduction of new administrations tighter restrictions of

immigration have been imposed such as changing the (). This is the number of immigrants

allowed in the US by the President every fiscal year. There are also higher rates of arrest of

undocumented immigrants and detainment of children of undocumented immigrants. However

the number of immigrants travelling to the country whether documented or documented is

raising annually and polices are not up to date to support this community’s well-being.

In my reflection I assessed how social welfare and economic policies impact the delivery

of and access to social services in the sense that I recognized that undocumented immigrant

populations lack access to social services. One of the topics in the reflection was permitting

undocumented immigrants access to emergency services because it is perceived as a human

right. I agreed with this policy however I explained in my reflection that there are limitations to

such a policy. Considering service can only be provided on an emergency basis I believe there

will be a more detrimental outcome on the American deficit because of the costly nature of

emergency services. Instead in accordance to the learning behavior of advocating for policies
that advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, I advocated for there

to be preventative care services for this population to improve the well-being of this population

and limit expenditures.

To improve the delivery of services I advocated not just for federal changes in service

delivery to immigrant populations, but as well as policies at the mezzo level. In my reflection I

advocated for there to be trainings for social work professionals and related field involved in the

immigration industry on cultural competency and how to serve these populations. At my current

field placement I had to be trained on the United States Commission of Refugees (USCRI) and

Immigrants’ policies for case management and cultural competency in order to work with

refugee populations. However not all professionals that work with immigrant populations are

funded by USCRI and therefore are not required to undergo these trainings.

In my practice I plan to continue advocating for policies in support of the well-being of

underserved populations as advised by competency five, such as the refugee and immigrant

community. This includes advocacy at both the federal and therefore macro level, as well as the

mezzo level in my professional community of social workers. Social workers code of ethics is

rooted in the service delivery to vulnerable populations, and in order change service delivery on

a national or state level social workers and communities alike have to advocate for the

population they are serving in policy development.