During American presidential campaigns, frequent questions posed are, “What will we do with millions of illegal immigrants already in America? And, how about the many hundreds of thousands more arriving constantly? Biden made it clear from the start that he welcomed open borders. Bidenites did not ponder the more precise and important questions which are:

“What will ‘good’ immigrant parents decide to do about their illegal status?”

“What impact over time does a parent’s living in the shadows of illegal, unethical, and criminal status have on their own character structure and by psychological influence, the character structure of their children?”

“Does the dubious atmosphere of being an “illegal” cause denial of that reality?”

“Does denial or repression about being illegal often cause defiance, rebellion, and a false sense of entitlement?”

“Does being illegal often cause a passive sense of psychological invisibility and submissiveness?”

Is skipping to the head of the line to gain American citizenship and potential prosperity a violation of personal conscience? Does denial of such cheating cause character defects?

Why did an illegal immigrant parent not fight for freedom, safety, and prosperity in their country of origin? Is such cowardice easily denied after illegal immigration?

Is searching for a better economic life in America a valid excuse for ignorance of or breaking the law?

What are personality, character, and character disorder as they relate to the parenting processes of illegal immigrant parents and the impact on the character of their children? Little has been written about the unconscious psychosocial aspects of illegal immigrant’s identities and actions as parents. We do know of frequent reports of illegal immigrants’ criminality and alcoholism in addition to the primal crime of illegal immigration.   

Personality and Character Disorder

Good character implies adequate intelligence, a good sense of humor/playfulness, personal integrity, ethical consistency, respect for authority, social adaptability, and flexibility during adversity. It has survival value. Character Disorder or Sociopathy is manifested by an individual's chronic, habitual, repetitive, and maladaptive patterns of behavior and emotional reactions. These patterns are relatively inflexible, limit the optimal use of potentialities, and often provoke responses that the person or group want to avoid.

Causes of Character Disorder

Some personality traits are influenced by genes and inherited. However, "Nature/Nurture" issues arise from the fact that character and character disorder are formed over many years of personality development. Character forms in the context of family and social life in a community. Parental attitudes, parenting style, nurturing connection, and values (or lack of them), are clearly shaping factors in a child’s personality formation over many years. The child unconsciously identifies with many parental traits or stoutly rebels against them.

Results of Illegal Immigrant Parenting

The conscious decision to illegally enter America has consequences. Often it leads to some immediate economic and educational advantages for illegal immigrants and their children. Education and a job in America afford the ability to send money back home to relatives in the country of origin. However, drug cartels forcibly require illegal immigrants to pay for assistance in crossing our American border. Sometimes such money is extracted violently or via forced sex trafficking behaviors. Intimidation by cartel criminals shows cowardice.

Moreover, the shadow-side of the illegal entry decision lives on and festers in the subconscious mind of illegal immigrants. The implications of such an illegal immigrant parent’s decision results in the intergenerational transmission of guilt and shame to the minds of their children and grandchildren. If there are no overt signs of this cultural class guilt and shame it is because of massive denial and reaction formation. Shameful and shameless behavior and hidden guilt about it can spawn acting-out behavior. Alcoholism, crime, reckless driving, and shameless predatory sexual behavior can result.

In other words, illegal immigrant parents’ actions have conscious, preconscious, and unconscious impact on their children’s minds, morals, and character. A parent who is haunted or should be haunted by illegal behavior finds it hard to be an effective role-model and example of moral integrity for his child. The child can repress or suppress the hints about the shadowy family secret. But young people during adolescence can rebel and become defiant. The sense of entitlement and defiance can lead to acting-out and authority conflict. Without a strong parent with good moral character, they push school authorities or the police into roles as stern parental-figures.

Earning legal citizenship, a good college education and a job is different than expecting it to be handed out as free stuff. Hard work earning an education builds character as part of the process. “Free education” and other free stuff can promote future generations of sucking dependency upon government entitlement programs.

In conclusion, the shadowy family secret of an illegal immigrant family often gets transmitted over several generations unless or until the truth is faced and resolved. It is alarming to consider how seldom the illegal immigrant’s parenting as it effects their children’s identity formation is seriously discussed. Paradoxically, the more personal integrity the child has, the more they will be haunted and hampered psychologically unless they transform their guilt and shame into effective community service, often in the military or health care fields. 

“Truth heals the pain which it evokes” -- Goethe

Image: Pexels, Fetraniaina Anatii Killahr