IMPACT Immigration

Psychological evaluations to support immigration cases are a straightforward and cost-effective intervention, and yet their impact can be lifesaving.

For immigrants in the United States, the fear and uncertainty of staying in the United States compounds daily, with ICE raids increasing in frequency, detention times in border facilities increasing in duration, and deportation without full due process increasingly commonplace. Many of these immigrants have the legal right to stay and seek the chance to make their case. Psychological evaluations often form the backbone of successful cases, roughly doubling the chance of their case being accepted, and yet very few immigrants can afford these evaluations.

Immigration Psychology Access Team seeks to keep families together and to ensure that deeply traumatized people can remain where they will find the services and support they need. In addition to providing subsidized evaluations, we are also developing a comprehensive training program to qualify more mental health professionals to conduct the evaluations, thus ensuring that more immigrants gain access to high-quality evaluations and to full due process.

The Immigration Psychology Access Team is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing these evaluations, enabling us to do so efficiently, professionally, and cost-effectively. Our team of experts, headed by founder Dr. Lynn Moore, has performed over 400 psychological evaluations amongst them, with a very high success rate. One outcome study of 183 cases by the team showed over 95% of the cases were approved when the data from psychological evaluations was included.

Mission: to offer immigrants and refugees psychological documentation of their trauma as part of their legal pursuit to live where they and their families feel safe and can thrive.

Vision: an immigration system that fairly ensures that all who qualify for refuge in the United States receive it.

Values: We believe that the voices of refugees and immigrants should be heard, their trauma witnessed, their rights respected, their benefit to society appreciated, and their families kept together by equal access to fair process.

The Immigrant Story

These stories are composites based on the hundreds of immigrants and refugees that the Immigration Psychology Access Team has helped in recent years.

MARIA

Maria is a U.S. citizen battling depression, has faced emotional trauma after her Guatemalan husband Gustavo was detained, leaving her alone to care for their two special-needs daughters. A psychological assessment of Maria and the impact of the separation can support an exceptional and unusual hardship waiver, giving Gustavo a chance to apply for legal status and reunite the family.

SANJAY

Sanjay, originally from India, was violently assaulted and robbed at work leaving him with persistent flashbacks, anxiety, and chronic pain. A professional report that details the psychological symptoms he is experiencing as a result of being a crime victim in the United States will support his legal status application.

Akar and Somira

Akar and his sister Somira, Rohingya refugees, live with the constant fear of being deported to Myanmar, where they endured years of violence and discrimination. A mental health evaluation by IMPACT documents the history of trauma and the risk of harm if they are forced to return. This data is included in their asylum application.

At IMPACT, our dedicated clinicians document the experiences of immigrant trauma, providing expert evaluations that support legal status applications. We remove financial barriers by subsidizing the cost of these evaluations—a vital service that significantly improves families’ chances of remaining together. In addition, we connect immigrants with ongoing mental health care, ensuring that every immigrant receives the support they need to achieve healing and stability.

IMPACT™ Immigration statement and policy:

IMPACT™ Immigration does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.

These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, clients, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients.