Does fear of ICE count in an immigration psychological evaluation? What families in Doral are describing

What is happening in Doral?

BBC News Mundo calls Doral, a city just west of Miami International Airport, the most Venezuelan city in the United States, and one of the cities ICE has watched most closely in recent months. Miami Herald figures cited by Latin Times show ICE arrests within the city rising from three in December 2025 to 17 in July 2026. In September, some local businesses told CBS News Miami that sales had fallen by as much as 70 percent, which they attribute to customers who are afraid to leave home.

Some of the people detained had asylum applications pending and valid work permits. In one case reported by Univision, a business owner was detained while dropping off her daughter at a friend’s home. Customs and Border Protection said she was in the country unlawfully, and her attorney disputed that.

BBC News Mundo also profiled a woman with a pending asylum case who now leaves home only to go to work. She has stopped walking in the park, dropped her dance classes and stopped going to gatherings with friends. A Spanish-language video filmed in Doral in early September by Oscar Alejandro, a YouTuber based in Miami, gathers accounts like hers.

One father described opening his front door at two in the morning to look for unfamiliar cars, something he never used to do, and said his wife and children check for cars watching the house before they get into theirs. Among his greatest worries if the family had to leave, he said, is his youngest son, who has special needs, speaks only English and has only received therapy in English. A mother described a late-night stop that ended with her husband detained while their four-year-old daughter slept in the back seat; she has since closed the beauty salon she ran in Doral. A grandfather recalled his granddaughter covering her face and crying during a stop on the way to church. These are accounts told to a camera, not clinical findings, and we do not diagnose anyone in them.

Two recent decisions affect many Venezuelan families in Doral. On September 4, the Board of Immigration Appeals held in Matter of A-E-V-M- that Nicolás Maduro’s removal from power in January, and the transfer of executive authority that followed, is a change in country conditions that judges must weigh when assessing a Venezuelan asylum applicant’s fear of future persecution. On October 5, the Supreme Court vacated an appeals court ruling against the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela and sent the case back in light of its June decision in Mullin v. Doe. What either decision means for a family is a question for its attorney. Our August article explains how asylum cases can now reach immigration court without an interview.

What does an evaluation do with words like “paranoia” or “panic”?

It looks for what the word stands for. When ordinary language runs out, families reach for clinical terms; the father in the video called his worry “una paranoia constante,” a constant paranoia that keeps him from working or concentrating. A report does not adopt that label. It documents the behavior behind it: when it began, how often it happens and what it now keeps the person from doing.

That takes questions with dates in them. When someone says they check the street at night, we ask when it started, what happened just before, how often it happens and how they function the next day. When a business closes or a work trip is canceled, we ask why, and what the household has lost since. The answers sit next to what we observe and any records that exist.

Standardized questionnaires add a measure, chosen for each case. In adult evaluations, the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 screen for depression and anxiety. When a person reports an event that may have been traumatic, such as being present for a relative’s arrest, we add the PCL-5 with the LEC-5. The PSS-14 or the WHODAS 2.0 comes in when chronic stress or daily functioning is the question. A score is read with the interview and the records; on its own, it does not make a diagnosis.

Fear of a real threat is not, on its own, a mental disorder, and the report does not treat it as one. When symptoms meet DSM-5-TR criteria, the report says so and shows which criteria are met. When symptoms are consistent with a disorder but do not meet full criteria, it says that instead. It also records what is helping, such as faith, family or steady work. We think a report that is plain about where fear ends and a diagnosis begins serves the attorney and the adjudicator better than one that stretches.

What about the children in these stories?

It depends on who the qualifying relative is. In cancellation of removal, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident child can be the relative whose hardship the case turns on, and that child may be evaluated. In an I-601A waiver, the qualifying relative is a spouse or parent, so a child’s distress matters through its effect on that adult. Any evaluation of a minor follows a separate protocol that our Clinical Lead approves.

A child’s needs can also shape what the evaluation covers. For a son like the one the father in the video describes, an evaluation can document what the records show about the child’s needs, the care he receives now, the language it is delivered in and how the family manages it. Whether comparable care would exist in another country, and in what language, is evidence the attorney gathers. We do not offer opinions about conditions abroad.

What if your family’s case is asylum?

Asylum evaluations are not among our services, and many of the people in the Doral reporting have asylum cases pending. Where an attorney is pursuing relief that depends on the hardship of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative, such as cancellation of removal in immigration court, that relative’s evaluation is our work. Whether that applies to a family is the attorney’s call.

Evaluations take place by secure video (Google Meet), which is free and works on any internet or phone connection, for families anywhere in the country. Spanish-speaking families talk with our bilingual evaluator directly, so there is no interpreter cost. Our Clinical Lead reviews and co-signs every report before it is released.

General information, current as of October 6, 2026. Immigration law, court rulings and enforcement practices change quickly. This article is not legal advice or an individual clinical opinion; consult an immigration attorney about your circumstances.