Mixed-status Families: Many Californians live in households with family members who have different citizenship or immigration statuses

This article is originally published at: Mixed-status Families | California Immigrant Data Portal

Many Californians live in households with family members who have different citizenship or immigration statuses. Mixed-status families, many of whom are long-settled and often include children who are U.S. citizens, face additional challenges, such as fear of deportation or fear of accessing public services due to a lack of clarity on eligibility. Immigration policies need to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of all Californians by creating multiple pathways to citizenship for immigrant families.

Insights & Analyses

• Immigration enforcement policies targeting undocumented individuals have ripple effects on families and in turn family members, including children—many of whom are U.S. citizens. In 2023, 20% of all individuals under 18 in California were living in mixed-status families, meaning they were undocumented themselves or living with someone who was.
• Across California, as of 2023, more than 3.3 million people (U.S. citizens and lawful residents) live in mixed-status families with undocumented immigrants.
• Among those living in families, Latinos and Asian Americans are the groups with the largest share of individuals who were undocumented themselves or living with someone who was: 30% of Latinos and nearly 14% of Asian Americans statewide as of 2023.
• The impact of deportations has ripple effects beyond the individual, affecting households, extended family members, neighbors, employers, and employees. A national study in 2022 by the Center for Migration Studies of New York assessed the economic impact of removing an undocumented resident from a mixed-status household and revealed that the median household income can decrease from $75,500 to $39,000, pushing families further into poverty.
• Beyond the economic impacts, deportations separate parents from their children. A 2020 study found that children were more likely to experience psychological, physical, social, and educational problems following their parents’ deportation.
• Though there has been a long history of family separation in the U.S. immigration system, during the first Trump administration, the U.S.’s “zero tolerance” policy led to an increase in the separation of underage children from their families at the border. Despite attempts to limit family separations during the previous administration, as of 2024, some families remain separated.
• In this second Trump administration, according to a New York Times article, as border crossings have decreased, immigration officials are using family separation for those already living in the U.S. to pressure immigrants to self-deport. The increase in ICE arrests and detentions within the U.S. are creating conditions where families are now experiencing “interior separation”, a newer dynamic where family members are separated while they remain in custody. According to a California Newsroom analysis, in November 2025 the administration halted virtually all reunifications of undocumented children to their sponsors nationally, which includes about 300 children held in 30 shelters throughout the state.
• The Center for Migration Studies of New York’s brief, using 2022 data, estimated that increased aggressive immigration enforcement could result in more children entering the welfare system. For example, if 10% of children who are at risk of parental deportation experienced family separation due to increased enforcement and among these children about a quarter of them did not have other family to house them, CMS estimates that about 66,000 children would be placed in the foster care system, with a cost of over 400 million dollars to taxpayers.
• The “public charge” rule has long created “chilling effects” for immigrant communities, meaning that many immigrants and their families are dissuaded from accessing services or resources due to fear of jeopardizing their path to legal status—even when the public charge rule does not apply to them. In March 2021, the Biden administration halted compliance with the Trump-era rule, and in September 2022, it published a final “public charge” rule that took effect on December 23, 2022, codifying the 1999 rule and providing some protections for immigrants. Yet, the impact of the changes under the Trump administration will be long-lasting, and many organizations and advocates continue to urge the government to refrain from enforcing exclusionary immigration policies, such as this one.
• In July 2025, President Trump signed a budget bill into law that will have a major impact on access to vital services and supports. According to an analysis by the California Budget and Policy Center (CBPC), H.R. 1 allocates $150 billion in unrestricted funding for detention and deportation and provides tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy while reducing access to healthcare and other critical supports in the next several years. The bill takes away benefits and access to the Child Tax Credit programs for children of immigrants (if neither parent has a valid Social Security number), removes CalFresh eligibility for immigrants without citizenship or a green card, such as refugees, and removes eligibility for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for certain groups of immigrants, such as refugees and asylees. The bill also reduces eligibility to several programs by reclassifying them as federal public benefits that are limited only to “qualified immigrants.” And in a time of increased surveillance, the US Department of Health and Human Services will be able to share the personal data of Medicaid enrollees with ICE, which includes approximately 15 million Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal. At the same time, the 2025-2026 state budget also implements cuts to funding for key immigrant-serving programs. For more, read CBPC’s analysis here and NILC’s fact sheet here.