Ethical Considerations for Psychological Practice with Undocumented Immigrants in the United States

In this article, I aim to provide an overview of various guidelines and considerations that practicing psychologists in the U.S. must take into account when working with and for undocumented clients, particularly within the hostile political context of 2026. Through compiling empirical research sources, APA statements, and guidelines from professional organizations like the National Immigration Law Center, I provide various best practices broken down by sections of the APA Ethics Code. These include guidelines with relations to language proficiency and interpreter services, ICE raid preparation competencies and protocols, and confidentiality considerations, among others. I also include recommendations for the APA and other psychological institutions, such as creating more formal professional practice guidelines for psychological work with undocumented immigrants and providing more explicit material support to practicing psychologists who engage in justified and ethical civil disobedience when ethics and law come into conflict. While this article is by no means a complete collection of considerations, and is in full transparency written by a first year doctoral student with limited clinical experience, I hope it can serve as an initial guide and jumping off point for researchers and practitioners to develop more fleshed out guidelines. I believe this activity is vitally important given the current threats facing undocumented and immigrant populations within the United States under the second Trump administration, and I hope that this manuscript is helpful.