How immigration status constrains immigrant agricultural worker households' access to health care: Evidence from the “New Pluralism” Study

Data from 2003-2005 community surveys conducted in two rural communities in the Pacific Seaboard region which have high concentrations of immigrants are used to analyze of the ways in which immigration status affects health care service delivery systems. Health care policy and planning often rely on analyses of impacts of financial or regulatory provisions on “immigrant populations” vs. “native-born populations”. I present data on patterns of immigration status within households and ways in which that is likely to affect access to health care and continuity of care. Individuals' occupation, recency of arrival in the U.S., migration network affiliation, language skills (in English and also, for indigenous-origin Mexican migrants, in Spanish), age, gender, and household composition, interact with legal status in complex ways. To enhance strategies for health outreach and health promotion campaigns in rural immigrant areas, it will be necessary to move beyond the basic objective of “getting information out” to assist immigrant farmworker families in diverse types of households to confront the legal and other barriers they face in securing health care and navigating the health care delivery system.