Aggressive immigration practices, including detention, deportation, and workplace raids are causing widespread emotional trauma among children. So says a study by a team of mental health professionals at UC Riverside’s School of Medicine.

The report, published July 25 in Psychiatric News, suggests that “acute psychological risks” — among both immigrant and U.S.-born children living in mixed-status households — develop from forced family separations, particularly those resulting from immigration enforcement actions, such as detention and deportation.

The researchers propose that immigration enforcement in the United States is a public health emergency for millions of children.

Citing clinical case studies and community-based data, researches said trauma is transmitted across generations and shaped by conditions such as poverty, discrimination, and fear of enforcement.

“We are witnessing the effects of chronic fear, disrupted attachment, and intergenerational trauma on a massive scale,” Dr. Lisa Fortuna, professor and chair of psychiatry and neuroscience at the UCR School of Medicine and the lead psychiatrist behind the report, said in statement accompanying the report. “The threat or reality of separation from a caregiver fundamentally reshapes a child’s development and mental health.”

For instance, researchers cited a national study of 547 U.S.-born adolescents, ages 11 to 16, which found that having a detained or deported family member was associated with elevated risk for suicidal thoughts, “externalizing behaviors,” and alcohol use.

Families who have experienced recent raids have noted behaviors such as anxiety attacks, bursts of tears, and abrupt changes in normal behavior.

That echoes the report, which said that in young children, abrupt caregiver loss has been linked to sleep and appetite disturbances.

The authors note that both pre- and post-migration family separations harm children’s emotional development and academic performance.

Immigrant caregivers, especially mothers, often suffer from trauma, which limits their ability to support their children emotionally.

“Psychiatry, as both a clinical discipline and a social institution, cannot remain on the periphery,” the authors wrote. “The current moment calls for a reexamination of how structural and intergenerational trauma are diagnosed, understood, and treated.”

Immigration raids have amplified due to the Trump administration’s pledge to target drug cartels and hardened criminals, the “worst of the worst” in the U.S. They point to decreased border crossings as evidence the raids are working.

As Department of Homeland Security officials noted on Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have arrested several criminal illegal aliens “convicted of heinous crimes including assault, child sex offenses, larceny, and burglary.”

“Just yesterday, ICE arrested rapists, thieves, and other violent offenders. These are the scumbags our law enforcement are arresting and getting out of our country every single day,” said DHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin.

Trump administration officials say the nationwide crackdown is the answer to “invasion” of undocumented immigrants.

And while advocacy groups say most of the people being arrested are not criminals, federal authorities say the crackdown is working, pointing to falling numbers of border crossings and daily web posts of hardened criminals who have been apprehended.

In an email response to questions about children impacted by ICE enforcement, an agency spokesperson this week pointed to a policy of non-separation. But they did not address the emotional impact on children.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not separate families or deport U.S. citizens, but removable parents — absent indications of abuse or neglect — can choose to take their children with them, regardless of the children’s immigration statuses,” the statement said. “Parents who choose to leave their children in the U.S. have the option to designate a third-party caregiver. This has always been the case.”

But as federal agents’ dragnet has blanketed Southern California, and the nation, they have often separated families from a breadwinner of the family, and at times also a key source of stability for a child, advocates say. In many cases, the families say that detainees who are also the heads of a households are often not hardened criminal, but people who have built lives, with families and homes in the U.S.

Advocates and detainees say many of the detentions have lacked due process and led to the detainment of U.S. citizens or those on a legal track toward residency or citizenship.

As national debates around immigration continue, the UC Riverside report urged policymakers and clinicians to confront the human costs of enforcement-driven immigration systems and to prioritize the emotional wellbeing of the youngest and most vulnerable.

The report also outlined methodology that is proving more effective and ethical than traditional mental health interventions, such as systems of care and community-partnered approaches.

“Healing for immigrant children and families arises not only from clinical intervention but from the restoration and reinforcement of the protective relationships, cultural traditions, and communal ties that support resilience,” according to the study.

“Psychiatry must take an active role — not just in treatment, but in advocacy,” co-author Dr. Kevin Gutierrez, an assistant clinical professor of health sciences in the UCR Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, said. “The mental health of immigrant children is inseparable from the systems that shape their lives.”

Related Articles

Trial to start on whether deployment of National Guard to Los Angeles violated federal law

Trump’s big bill is powering his mass deportations. Congress is starting to ask questions

ICE is holding migrants in crowded and unsanitary cells, suit claims

Trump’s cartel order revives ‘bitter’ memories in Latin America

Lake Elmo mother remains in ICE custody despite release order

Staff Writer Anissa Rivera contributed to this report.

By TIFFANY STANLEY and PETER SMITH, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he’s proud to be part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, an archconservative network of Christian congregations.

Hegseth recently made headlines when he shared a CNN video on social media about CREC, showing its pastors arguing women should not have the right to vote.

Pastor Doug Wilson, a CREC co-founder, leads Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, the network’s flagship location. Jovial and media-friendly, Wilson is no stranger to stirring controversy with his church’s hard-line theology and its embrace of patriarchy and Christian nationalism.

Wilson told The Associated Press on Monday he was grateful Hegseth shared the video. He noted Hegseth’s post was labeled with Christ Church’s motto: “All of Christ for All of Life.”

“He was, in effect, reposting it and saying, ‘Amen,’ at some level,” Wilson said.

Hegseth, among President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks, attends Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, a CREC member church in a suburb outside Nashville, Tennessee. His pastor, Brooks Potteiger, prayed at a service Hegseth hosted at the Pentagon.

CREC recently opened a new outpost in the nation’s capital, Christ Church DC, with Hegseth attending its first Sunday service.

Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed Hegseth’s CREC affiliation and told the AP that Hegseth “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.”

Pastor Doug Wilson stands for a portrait after Sunday services at the new campus for Christ Church and its Logos School, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Here are other things to know about the church network:

What does Wilson’s church say about women?

Wilson’s church and wider denomination practice complementarianism, the patriarchal idea that men and women have different God-given roles. Women within CREC churches cannot hold church leadership positions, and married women are to submit to their husbands.

Wilson told the AP he believes the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote “was a bad idea.” Still, he said his wife and daughters vote.

Related Articles

H-1B visas: Federal government mandates in-person interviews for overseas renewals

Researchers say immigration raids taking emotional toll on children

Uvalde County leaders release video, records showing response to school shooting that left 21 dead

Shooter attacked CDC headquarters to protest COVID-19 vaccines

YouTube to begin testing a new AI-powered age verification system in the U.S.

He would prefer the United States follow his church’s example, which allows heads of households to vote in church elections. Unmarried women qualify as voting members in his church.

“Ordinarily, the vote is cast by the head of the household, the husband and father, because we’re patriarchal and not egalitarian,” Wilson said. He added that repealing the 19th Amendment is not high on his list of priorities.

Hegseth’s views on women have been in the spotlight, especially after he faced sexual assault allegations, for which no charges were filed. Before his nomination to lead the Defense Department, Hegseth had questioned women serving in combat roles in the military.

Wilson, a Navy veteran who served on submarines, also questions women serving in some military roles.

“I think we ought to find out the name of the person who suggested that we put women on those submarines and have that man committed,” Wilson said. “It’s like having a playpen that you put 50 cats in and then drop catnip in the middle of it. Whatever happens is going to be ugly. And if you think it’s going to advance the cause of women and make sailors start treating women less like objects, then you haven’t been around the block very many times.”

What is the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches?

Founded in 1998, CREC is a network of more than 130 churches in the United States and around the world.

CREC ascribes to a strict version of Reformed theology — rooted in the tradition of 16th-century Protestant reformer John Calvin — that puts a heavy emphasis on an all-powerful God who has dominion over all of society.

Wilson and CREC are also strongly influenced by a 20th-century Reformed movement called Christian Reconstructionism, according to Julie Ingersoll, a religion professor at the University of North Florida who wrote about it in her 2015 book “Building God’s Kingdom.”

She sees that theology reflected in the Wilson slogan Hegseth repeated on social media.

“When he says, ‘All of life,’ he’s referencing the idea that it’s the job of Christians to exercise dominion over the whole world,” Ingersoll said.

Since the 1970s, Wilson’s ministry and influence have grown to include the Association of Christian Classical Schools and New Saint Andrew’s College in Moscow, Idaho.

The ministry has a robust media presence, including Canon Press, publisher of books like “The Case for Christian Nationalism” and “It’s Good to Be a Man: A Handbook for Godly Masculinity.”

What is the connection to Christian nationalism?

Wilson wants the United States to be a Christian nation. He does not mind being called a Christian nationalist.

“I am more than happy to work with that label because it’s a better label than what I usually get called,” Wilson said.

“If I get called a white nationalist or a theo-fascist or a racist bigot, misogynist thug, I can’t work with them except to deny them,” he said. “I’m a Christian, and I’m a patriot who loves my country. How do I combine those two things? How do they work together?”

U.S. Christian nationalism is a fusion of American and Christian identity, principles and symbols that typically seeks a privileged place for Christian people and ideas. Wilson contends that early America was Christian, a notion historians dispute.

“If we succeed, this will be Christian America 2.0,” Wilson wrote in 2022.

American Christian nationalism involves overlapping movements. Among them are evangelicals who view Trump, a Republican, as a champion, some of whom are influenced by Christian Reconstructionist ideas; a charismatic movement that sees politics as part of a larger spiritual war; and a Catholic postliberal movement envisioning a muscular government promoting traditional morality.

CREC now has a closer relationship to the upper echelons of government. This has renewed scrutiny of Wilson’s other controversial views, including his downplaying of the horrors of Southern slavery in the U.S. But it’s also given Wilson a bigger stage.

Hegseth and Wilson have spoken approvingly of each other. Wilson said they have only met in person once, when they talked informally after Wilson preached at Hegseth’s home church in Tennessee this year.

Wilson said CREC’s new Washington church began as a way to serve church members who relocated to work in the Trump administration.

“This is the first time we’ve had connections with as many people in national government as we do now,” Wilson said. “But this is not an ecclesiastical lobbying effort where we’re trying to meet important people. We’re trying to give some of these people an opportunity to meet with God.”

Smith reported from Pittsburgh.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

ATLANTA (AP) — The man who fired more than 180 shots with a long gun at the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention broke into a locked safe to get his father’s weapons and wanted to send a message against COVID-19 vaccines, authorities said Tuesday.

Documents found in a search of the suspect’s home “expressed the shooter’s discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. White had written about wanting make “the public aware of his discontent with the vaccine,” he said.

Related Articles

YouTube to begin testing a new AI-powered age verification system in the U.S.

Wall Street flirts with its records on hopes for coming cuts to interest rates

Kodak cautions there’s ‘substantial doubt’ about its ability to stay in business

Officials are investigating the cause of a Pennsylvania steel plant explosion that killed 2

US inflation held steady as mild tariff hit offset by cheaper gas, food

Patrick Joseph White, 30, also had recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks before the shooting, Hosey said. He died at the scene Friday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing a police officer.

The suspect’s family was fully cooperating with the investigation, authorities said at the Tuesday news briefing. White had no known criminal history, Hosey said.

Executing a search warrant at White’s home, authorities recovered written documents that are being analyzed, and seized electronic devices that are undergoing a forensic examination, the agency said.

Investigators also recovered a total of five firearms, including a gun that belonged to his father that he used in the attack, Hosey said.

Hosey said the suspect did not have a key to the gun safe, Hosey said. “He broke into it,” he said.

More than 500 shell casings have been recovered from the crime scene, the GBI said.

In the aftermath, officials at the CDC are assessing the security of the campus and making sure they notify officials of any new threats.

The shooting Friday broke about 150 windows across the CDC campus, with bullets piercing “blast-resistant” windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, and pinned many employees down during the barrage. White had been stopped by CDC security guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street, where he opened fire from a sidewalk, authorities said.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. toured the CDC campus on Monday, accompanied by Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and CDC Director Susan Monarez, according to a health agency statement. Kennedy also visited the DeKalb County Police Department, and later met privately with the slain officer’s wife.

“No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” Kennedy said in a statement Saturday. It said top federal health officials are “actively supporting CDC staff.”

He did not speak to the media during his visit Monday. Some unionized CDC employees called for more protections against attack.

Kennedy was a leader in a national anti-vaccine movement before President Donald Trump selected him to oversee federal health agencies, and has made false and misleading statements about the safety and effectiveness of about COVID-19 shots and other vaccines.

Years of false rhetoric about vaccines and public health was bound to “take a toll on people’s mental health,” and “leads to violence,” said Tim Young, a CDC employee who retired in April.

By Jason Bracelin, Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS — Go ahead, spring for the puke insurance.

It’s a worthwhile investment — only $20, says the homemade sign on the wall scrawled out in Magic Marker — considering all the bacon martinis and shots served up in miniature ceramic toilets here.

We’ve entered the “Happiest Place on Earth” — so reads the awning outside the doorway — time to shut up and drink at the Double Down Saloon, Vegas’ most iconic dive bar.

Interior details are seen at the Double Down Saloon, on Nov. 15, 2022, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

Like the B-movies that play on the dented, dated TVs above the bar, the place is a gritty fantasia of knowing, pointed outlandishness.

Late globe-trotting chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain counted it among the top five bars in the world, and fellow Travel Channel staple Samantha Brown also has sung the joint’s praises.

Related Articles

Coasting Into Croatia: Europe’s hidden gem not so hidden anymore, but still gorgeous

Travel: Switzerland’s zesty Zurich is the gateway to the Alps

Keeping work from spoiling a vacation takes planning and the right phone settings

One woman set out to visit every museum in New York City. Here’s what she’s learned so far

Hacks to ease some of summer’s biggest headaches when you fly

Comedian Dave Attell partied there during an episode of his up-all-night “Insomniac” show, and Maxim, Playboy and Rolling Stone are just a few of the publications that have singled out the Double Down, 4640 Paradise Road, as one of the best joints of its kind.

And so if we’re going to dive into Vegas dives, this is the place to start.

But before we go any further, let’s define the terms. What exactly is a dive bar?

Well, there’s a certain ineffable quality to these magical little realms of happiness — and they do tend to be little — an often worn, lived-in feel that’s decidedly non-cookie-cutter.

The randomness is often part of the appeal, in fact — these places can’t be neatly planned; a certain chaos swirls in their dingy DNA.

It’s an aura, a vibe, frequently a community, and it cannot be faked: A true dive is as organic as the patrons that populate it.

For further clarification, who better to ask than Double Down owner P Moss himself?

“A dive bar is something that, over decades, gets the s— kicked out of it, and develops personality,” Moss explained to the RJ in an interview a few years back. “Anybody that says they can create that, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

On that note, let’s crack open a 12-pack of must-visit Vegas dives.

The Dive Bar

To quote the late, great Lemmy Kilmister: “We want to be the band that if we moved in next door to you, your lawn would die.”

Now, the Dive Bar is a venue, not one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll frontmen of all time, but as the rock club equivalent of the Motorhead singer, the exact same sentiment applies.

Your shower will need to take a shower after you attempt to rinse off the residue of a night spent at this gloriously gritty joint, which has long been one of the city’s best venues for underground punk/metal/goth/rockabilly shows. 4110 S. Maryland Parkway

Huntridge Tavern

We can’t confirm that the ghost of Charles Bukowski haunts this place, but … he definitely should.

After all, this wizened, time-honored hang — serving up budget booze for over 60 years now — could have sprung directly from the pages of one of that legendary barfly’s novels.

The wood-paneled decor is decidedly no-frills, but it looks great through the bottom of a beer glass. There are rock, punk and metal shows here, the sounds usually as raucous as the setting.

Here’s what Bourdain said of the joint after stopping by for a shot of Jameson’s Black during Season 3 of his “Parts Unknown” TV series:

“The Huntridge Tavern: Where those who have to live it and see it, the things that men do day after day, night after night, in a town where people are encouraged to do their worst. Where they can drink the stain away. This is the side of Vegas I like.”

Second that. 1116 E. Charleston Blvd.

Stage Door casino

Physicists will tell you that time machines don’t exist.

Bouncer Da’ Ron Lamar Darden waits for customers at Stage Door Casino at the corner of Flamingo Road and Linq Lane in Las Vegas on Nov. 18, 2024. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

LOL, poindexters, the Stage Door casino continues to prove otherwise.

A Bud Light and a shot of Jager for $5 or a beer and a hot dog the size of one of Big Foot’s thumbs for $3, all mere steps from the Strip?

What is this, 1996?

And it’s not only discount hooch on tap in this small, homey bar tattooed in band stickers. Ol’ Blue Eyes himself was known to hang at the Stage Door in the 1970s, and in his honor, high rollers can spring for The Sinatra, a $175 bottle of Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select served with ice on the side, just the way the Chairman liked it. 4000 Linq Lane

Rusty Spur Saloon

The images of Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash that adorn the wood-paneled walls next to Iron Maiden album covers and Social Distortion concert posters encapsulate the vibe at this country-leaning hang with punk rock undertones.

This place is the antithesis of a boxy, brightly lit honky-tonk, an in-your-face dive bar: small in size, big in attitude.

Know that iconic black-and-white portrait of a sneering Johnny Cash flipping the bird? (It’s framed behind the bar here in case you don’t.)

Well, the Spur is pretty much the embodiment of said image. If you favor grit over glam, this is your spot. 8025 S. Dean Martin Drive

Hard Hat Lounge

Like a veteran Hollywood actor who partied his jowls into hound dog territory, the Hard Hat got a facelift a few years back and looks like a kid again. (“Kid” being a relative term here; the place opened in the early ’60s.)

Despite the fresh decor, the approachable neighborhood bar vibe remains and — living up to its name — there’s a daily construction worker discount with $1 off select beverages.

What’s more, the Hard Hat is the home of the brick-sized Stay Tuned Burgers. 1675 S. Industrial Road

Champagnes Cafe

Upon entering this gaudily svelte throwback lounge, old-school Vegas aficionados will feel like they have died and gone to heaven after being buried in a velvet shroud.

How legendary is this place?

Well, the word is spelled out in lights — L-E-G-E-N-D-A-R-Y — right above the bar alongside framed pictures of vintage Vegas — is that the iconic Stardust marquee we see? — and lush drapery.

There are classic cocktails aplenty, late-night karaoke jams and an excellent comedy open mic night every Tuesday. 3557 S. Maryland Parkway

Dino’s Lounge

Everybody, all together now: “Every rose has its thorn / Just like every night has its dawn / Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song …”

And where do all those cowboys and cowgirls and punks, hipsters and tourists-in-the-know go to sing them when in downtown Vegas?

Dino’s, naturally.

This has been one of Vegas’ go-to karaoke spots for decades now, with usually packed sessions beginning at 10 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. 1516 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Moondoggies Bar & Grill

All are welcome at this friendly, surf-meets-Buffalo Bills-themed bar.

The place takes its name from Gidget’s wave-riding beau in the ’50s-’60s book/film/TV series but is more about the gridiron than the beach these days, with its sports pub bent.

Seeing as how it’s a Bills bar, reveling in Super Bowl victories is not the draw here, but rather top-notch pizza and wings washed down with affordable drinks in a comfortable, come-as-you-are setting. 3240 Arville St.

Red Dwarf

According to folklore, the Red Dwarf is a devilish imp from the Detroit area whose appearance presages bad things.

Now, we haven’t seen the little troublemaker at his namesake Vegas bar, where trouble (of the good kind) is readily made, but he did bring Detroit-style pizza with him — and it’s been a huge hit.

This tiki-meets-punk bar has become a locals favorite with its heterogeneous mash of thatch-roofed booths, walls lined with old local show fliers, voluminous craft beer list, Dole Whip cocktails and, perhaps most notoriously, that pizza, made from a personal recipe of owner Russell Gardner. 1305 Vegas Valley Drive

Grey Witch

A framed sign near the entryway reads “We’re all mad” here, and it’s a harbinger of what’s to come at this new bar/music venue/emporium of clown paintings, ceramic cats, taxidermied boar heads and dismembered baby dolls in glass containers from Gardner and the folks behind the Red Dwarf.

Dramatic lighting and funky art are a focus of the new Grey Witch bar and restaurant on May 22, 2025, in Henderson, Nevada. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

The Grey Witch’s interior design reflects its titular sorceress, who utilizes both helpful and harmful magic: The front of the place is brightly illuminated with polished wood tables for dining and is all-ages until 10 each night.

The back of the bar is decidedly shadowier, with more gargoyle statues, less greenery.

Yes, Gardner’s signature Detroit-style pizza is also served here. No, you won’t leave hungry. 722 W. Sunset Road, Henderson

Atomic Liquors

When tracing the gene map of Las Vegas imbibing, pretty much everything dates back to Atomic Liquors, which received the city’s inaugural liquor store license before becoming its first free-standing bar in 1952.

The outside patio begins to fill up with patrons for the start of the Atomic Liquors’ 70th anniversary party weekend on June 17, 2022, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

Barbara Streisand was a regular back in the day, as were Clint Eastwood, the Rat Pack, the Smothers Brothers and plenty of other celebs — both The Shins and Carlos Santana have shot music videos at Atomic in recent years.

You can still feel that sense of history amid the glowing neon and vintage signage, although nowadays, there’s a full kitchen — The Atomic Burger is the bomb; dad joke detonated — as well as an extensive craft brew list.

Bonus: The patio is among the best people-watching spots on Fremont East. 917 E. Fremont St.

©2025 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.