Community Leaders’ Perceptions of the Unique Service Barriers and Facilitators Among Immigrant Families With Young Children in the Rural U.S.–Mexico Border Region

Abstract

The present descriptive phenomenological study examines the unique service access barriers and facilitators of immigrant families along the rural U.S.–Mexico border from the perspectives of agency and government representatives. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine local/state government officials and 14 community agency leaders using purposive and snowball sampling. A phenomenological thematic analysis approach was utilized to analyze data from individual interviews. Findings reveal that unique barriers experienced by immigrant families in the U.S.–Mexico border region include rurality, border checkpoints, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol presence, which have placed mobility limitations on immigrant families, cutting them off from central service providers. Programs and policies aimed at engagement of mixed-status families in areas along the U.S.–Mexico border need to create mechanisms to better reach these families.