A PROPOSED MODEL FOR ADVOCACY SERVICES FOR MEXICAN UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS WITH MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS

The purpose of this presentat ion is to discuss the studies that have focused on undocumented a l iens f rom Mex ico , to discuss barriers that inhibit their use of mental heal t h services , and to out line ways in whi ch soc i a l workers empl oyed i n mental health insti tut ions can become act ively involved in helping this group . Since 1 900 , immigr at ion to the Uni ted States f rom Mexi co has fol l owed a pattern of continuing l egal and i l l egal entry ; legal al ien families from Mx i co are def ined as those who have been legally ad m l t ted to t he U . S . , whereas undocumented f am i l ies are t hose res iding i n the U . S . who have entered i l l egal· l y . Mex ico has suppl ied more immigrants with United S t ates working v isas between 1957 and 1966 than any o ther country . 1 However , an unknown number of Mexicans enter the country i l legal ly ; for example , the AFL-CIO est imates the total number of i llegal aliens res iding i n the U . S . i s over eight m i l l ion . 2