Legal violence is a structural determinant of health in U.S. immigration governance. This essay examines how the shift from civil to criminal enforcement—marked by surveillance, detention, and deportation—inflicts systemic harm on undocumented immigrants, deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) and temporary protected status (TPS) holders, lawful permanent residents (LPRs), and U.S. citizens in mixed-status families. Framing these practices as legal violence reveals how structural forces embedded in law and policy create and sustain public health disparities. While the Social Determinants of Health framework identifies conditions affecting health outcomes, this essay emphasizes how structural determinants—immigration policy, legal exclusion, and enforcement—shape and perpetuate these conditions. Drawing on illustrative examples of empirical research on preterm births, mental health impacts, and reduced safety-net participation, this essay demonstrates that legal violence inflicts measurable harms. Addressing these harms requires structural reform; public health leaders and policymakers must confront legal violence to advance health equity.
Malagon et al. (2026) studied this question.