# Perceived Immigration Laws and Infectious Disease Control Measures

> **NIH NIH R01** · MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN · 2024 · $541,052

## Abstract

Over 44 million immigrants live in the US, and nearly half (44%) are Latinx. Historically, US immigrants
have been reluctant to engage in public health infectious disease control measures such as testing, contact
tracing, vaccination, and prompt medical care. Yet the public's cooperation is essential if infectious disease
control measures are to succeed, especially among a marginalized subpopulation such as Latinx immigrants.
 Increasingly, commentators have noted the potential for immigration laws and concerns to deter
immigrants from engaging in communicable disease control measures. This may be especially true for
conditions of immigration significance that can be shrouded with negative legal and social connotations.
Findings from our studies of Latinx immigrants' immigration concerns related to largely individual-level public
health interventions--specifically use of services for HIV testing, substance use disorders and intimate partner
violence--confirms commentators' concerns, (1R01MD011573 PI: Galletly) and our preliminary study of Latinx
immigrants' legal concerns relevant to COVID testing, contact tracing, and treatment (R01MH091875-S1 PI:
Galletly) strongly suggest this influence applies to large scale, population-level disease control efforts as well.
 The proposed study will extend our research on the influence of actual, and importantly, perceived,
immigration-related laws on Latinx immigrants' use of HIV prevention services to examine the influence of
these on Latinx immigrants' ability and willingness to engage in population-level disease control efforts where
government direction is more prominent. Specifically, we propose to leverage the recent increased public
awareness of public health disease control measures to examine the influence of actual and perceived
immigration-related laws on Latinx immigrants' willingness to engage in testing, contact tracing, and treatment
as recommended by public health representatives when indicated for tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and COVID-19.
 Our interdisciplinary team of researchers, attorneys, community health workers and public health
representatives will collaborate on this mixed-methods, community-engaged study. Formative legal and
qualitative inquiry to identify the nature, extent, and influence of immigration-related law concerns will inform
the development of a de novo immigration law concerns measure to be administered to 1200 Latinx
immigrants living in two US regions with diverse immigration environments. Participants with diverse
documentation statuses, countries of origin, time spent in the US, and residence in rural/agricultural and urban
settings will be purposively sampled to further inform analysis of these complex behaviors.
 Identifying actual and perceived legal barriers to immigrants' engagement in disease control measures
can only be useful if results are transferred to practice. We will explore, with public health personnel, how best
to support the rapid transfer of findin...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10912764
- **Project number:** 5R01NR020940-02
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN
- **Principal Investigator:** CAROL L GALLETLY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $541,052
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-23 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10912764

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10912764, Perceived Immigration Laws and Infectious Disease Control Measures (5R01NR020940-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10912764. Licensed CC0.

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