Unocumented Parent Deportations

Immigration affects families in many different ways. In the book “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario, family is a core element. After Enrique’s mother leaves for the U.S., the whole concept of their family gets distorted. The walking out of Enrique’s father and the abandonment of his grandmother help to disband the family even more. Enrique also threatens to repeat the same mistakes his family made with his daughter when he considers leaving her behind in Honduras. Family is the central theme in Enrique’s Journey because of his relationship and resentment with his mother, the rejection of his father and grandmother, and Enrique’s decision to leave his daughter, Jasmin, behind.

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

In “Our fear of Immigrants” by Jeremy Adam smith, the author recalls a story about a young elementary student that got deported during Christmas break. Immigration has always been a controversial topic in this country. Many have different views on why deportation is beneficial and why it is not. In this instance Rodrigo Guzman’s classmates were saddened and confused about why their classmate and dear friend had gotten sent to another country for no apparent reason. It was something these students didn’t understand since it was a subject they knew nothing about, however, the students knew it was not fair to their friend. Smith wanted to dig deeper on what emotions immigrants bring up in people and why was it

In the novel, Divided By Borders; Mexican Migrants And Their Children by author Joanna Derby, accessed in November 2017 summarizes the main ideas of the effects on transnational family relationships over time and the adaption of the family system. Derby explains her motivation into creating the novel is sparked by her own divided family experience and the emotional aspects that tie to real life connections to audiences who may relate or lack knowledge of. Derby effectively designs her research based on 12 groups of families; this gives the audience the interpretation of the children's side and the migrant parents leaving them to caregivers. The novel utilizes interviews to showcase the children's point of view on their parent's migration

Because of the United States’ policy of granting birthright citizenship to those who are born on the United States soil, mixed families can suffer from the effects of deportation. Most commonly, the parents (who also tend to be primary caretakers and breadwinners) are the ones who risk deportation, while the children are allowed to stay due to birthright citizenship. According to an Urban Institute report, 93% of Mexican national men who were deported lived in the United States for over a year (Enchautegui 2013). Of the 93%, 76% were head of households. Thus, the report concluded that deportations increased economic hardships (Enchautegui 2013). Furthermore, there is a concern that deportation, because the parent is undocumented, could result in children being placed in foster care – resulting in a change in family structure (Dreby 2012). This not only has negative financial implications but harmful emotional implications for those families who have to suffer through this experience. Therefore, the policy of disbanding sanctuary cities could not only have financial ramifications but emotionally traumatic ramifications for those children that remain

The “Undocumented Students” are youth who arrived to the United States as young children. These are young adults fighting hard to achieve their piece of the American Dream. Their experiences are emblematic of the struggles of millions of undocumented children and youth in America who deal daily with isolation from peers, the struggle to pursue an education, fears of detention and deportation and the trauma of separation from family and loved ones. Today there are one million children under 18 and 4.4 million under 30 undocumented young adults living in America and 11 Undocumented immigrants (American Psychological). Being undocumented negatively

The article, “Mass Deportations Would Impoverish US Families and Create Immense Social Costs,” by Robert Warren and Donald Kerwin, of Center for Migration Studies, describes the major consequences of what a massive deportation of

My main purpose of this writing is to educate others of the struggle and unfairness of an immigrant family and first generation child in the united states. The kind of sources I will integrate are factual evidence of income and personal experience. This project is important to me because it happens to everyday and is very

There are more than 11 million individuals residing in the U.S. without legal authorization from the federal government. The total number of unauthorized or “undocumented” immigrants in the U.S. has remained stable since 2009, and the number keeps rising (Becerra, 180). The context of having a parent, sibling or relative without documentation, or not being documented oneself, is a unique stressor that cannot solely be understood as generic stress or trauma. Families with members who are undocumented often “live in the shadows,” experiencing a lack of safety and fear of deportation. Because of their relationship with students and families, teachers, counselors, and other school personnel are often on the front line of dealing with mental health concerns as they arise, and should be well informed about the challenges that immigration status issues may present. In a case study done by Sita Patel, Alinne Barrera, Michael Strambler, Ricardo Munoz, and Erynn Macciomei,

Imagine yourself being a child of an undocumented immigrant, how would you feel if you watch the Television every day, and all you see is people been deported to their countries of origin because of their illegal status? Immigration has become one of the hottest topics that everyone is talking about, to specify, undocumented immigrants has suddenly become the target towards improving the nation’s economy. However, the damage that are resulting as we impound the fear of deportation on these undocumented immigrants are been neglected. Over 11 million undocumented immigrants resides in the US, formed families and have U.S born children (Suro and Suarez-Orozco). Today, among 15 children, there is one U.S born citizen with an undocumented parent (Suro and Suarez-Orozco). These children are nurtured by illegal parents who goes through emotional distress everyday due to the difficulties they face as they watch politicians calling out on

Over the last quarter of a decade, illegal immigration and enforcement have dominated mainstream policy making (Meisnner, Kerwin, Chishti & Bergeron, 2013). There has been a lot of public debate too, on whether or not the successive governments of the US have been able to effectively address illegal immigration and its enforcement thereof. However, as Meisnner et al. (2013) state, in the wake of the terror attacks of 2001, a paradigm shift appears to have been established, with the enforcement of illegal immigration taking a de facto stance. As such, as Dreby (2012) intimates, the number of immigrants who have been deported or removed from the US since 2001 has risen from 190, 000 to close to 400, 000. Considering the fact that there are more than 11 million illegal immigrants living in America, deportation on such a large scale without a doubt will result in a continuous chain reaction. One such consequence, as The New York University School of Law (2012) states, is that families are inherently broken apart by the removal of a family member. Additionally, there are other psychological and psychosocial impacts on families that are far-reaching. Because of these and many other compelling factors, this paper argues that the US should work to prevent deportations, rather than enforce them.

This article explores the importance of creating new policies that will allow immigrant families to stay together. Moreover, it focuses on the stress placed upon children when their parents are deported. This article will be useful to the paper because it looks at the impact of the change in immigration policies and the effects of deportation of parents of U.S.-born citizens.

Immigration policies need to be reformed to promote family unity since policies in place today make the separation of family members inevitable. The right to family is a fundamental human right stated in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and should be protected considering that the family is an integral part of society and is “necessary by nature for the development of the person.” (“The Family and Human Rights”). However, current immigration policies, do the opposite and have resulted in the separation of more than one million family members, whether it be deportees who are forced to leave loved ones behind or separation during apprehension and holding due to laws that require family members to be separated on account of age and gender if family relations are not known (Nunez 2017)(Women’s Refugee Commission). Being that several studies have also found that separation from family has negative implications on a child’s health and wellbeing, such as attachment issues, depression, and improper development, policies and procedures should allow for undocumented families

The article “Living in the Shadows: Plight of the undocumented” by Roy Aranda tells the story of an undocumented woman in the United States and all the processes she has been going through to stay in this country. Just as Pham did, this woman experienced judgment for being an immigrant. According to Aranda, “Children are more susceptible to the dangers of the world than adults, and unaccompanied children who face their situation alone are even more vulnerable” (800). This represents that anyone can be a victim of negative critiques. Many people take criticism as a positive thing, or possible changes to

In the book Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age, Jacqueline Bhabha writes about the implications deporting immigrants has on the idea of nuclear families. She references conclusions made by Jean Piaget, a famous developmental psychologist, about the negative impact children feel caused by separation from their parent or parents. Piaget states that the presence of parents is “essential for a child’s development of morality” (Bhabha 20). Research about the impact of separation with regards to immigrant children who are eventually reunited with their parents, reports the complex emotional turmoil experienced by the child or children. Therefore, thrusting a child into the migration process only proves to be more harmful than helpful. Clinical reports reveal considerable negative impacts on children and on family relationships both during and after the “separation phase”. Parents forced to part with their “children may feel guilt, but expect gratitude for the sacrifices that they made for their child, but in reality, the child ends up feeling more anger, and resentment towards the parent for leaving them” (Bhabha