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Immigrant Rights Movement
Immigrant rights activists report so that no story goes untold--expanding
our ability to inform, mobilize and project a collective voice.
[ filed under: immigration politics ] Spanish-language Media: Behind Every Raid Is a Child WASHINGTON – Immigration raids have filled Spanish-language newspaper pages for the last few weeks. In October 2007, the National Council of La Raza reported on the consequences of these raids on children. In recent coverage, reporters have gone back to that report and emphasized with each story that behind most immigrant deportations, there’s a kid left behind. Most work raids leave broken families – the deportation of one member of the family can leave other members behind – and emotional effects on children, such as depression, anxiety or feelings of panic, NCLR concluded in the study “Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children. El Tiempo Latino’s front page May 30 read: “Quiero estar con mi mamá” (I want to be with my mom), portraying Mike Anthony, a four-year-old whose mother has just been deported to Honduras. He will stay with some friends for now. Mike Anthony’s struggle is part of the wider coverage of last immigration raids in Virginia. After the arrest of 33 workers in Richmond, Va., El Pregonero reported on the rights of workers at the time of detention. Among the recommendations from the Virginia Immigration People’s Coalition are the suggestion to always carry their working papers with them, if they have them; to memorize the telephone number of an organization that might provide a lawyer for them; their right to leave jail by paying the requested bail and the recommendation to ask for a copy of every immigration document. The workers detained in Richmond were from Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Peru and El Salvador. Raids in the D.C. area have especially affected Salvadorans, El Pregonero reported. The consulate in Washington, D.C., reported attending to about 70 Salvadorans in different prisons in the metro area each month. Representatives of the Committee on Education and Labor met on May 22 to discuss the consequences on children of worksite raids, El Pregonero reported. The Committee considered economic, social and educational consequences for undocumented immigrants’ children, putting a special emphasis on the fact that most children separated from deported parents are U.S. citizens. The prologue in Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey” (Random House 2006) describes the author’s surprise that mothers in Latin America were forced to leave their children behind as they pursued a different life in the United States. Just as Nazario wondered what pushed thousands of women to leave their homes and families – she discovered that this could be related to the disintegration of the family and high divorce rates in poor areas of Latin America – now the same question is on the minds of kids like Mike Anthony, who know why their families came to the United States, but can’t explain the reasons for sending their mothers back home without them. comments |
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Stand Up – Immigration Reform is needed. I agree separation is tough. First – When parents are deported – so go the children too. Let’s not try to hide our problem behind the children. Illegal Immigration is wrong and is a serious problem we as a nation face. Criminals break laws and must be punished. The hardship on their families because of it is their own fault. Our immigration laws are in place for VERY good reasons – none of which are to be a nation of elitist. Get educated – listen to Frosty Wooldridge and Only support businesses that carry the
By John Q Concerned · Posted on Jun 5, 12:25 PMLegalEmployer.com seal. Stop hiring illegals and the problem will diminish.
Nothing is preventing the mothers from taking their children back to their home country when they are deported. When you committ a crime you pay the price and so do those afiliated with. Tough luck—take your kids with you and you won’t be separated from them.
By Phoenica · Posted on Jun 6, 04:29 PMNo other country on the face of the earth allows uncontrolled, undocumented migration into its borders – and certainly not Mexico. The solution to the problem lies within the countries’ that supply the flow of illegal immigrants; fix the problems in your own country instead of encouraging your people to come here to avoid those problems (it’s pathetic that the Mexican Gov actually encourages migration of Mexicans to the U.S.). Also, playing on people’s sympathies by invoking the plight of children isn’t effective.
By Juan · Posted on Jun 8, 04:29 PMFamilies are separated every day when people break laws. Stopping blaming the victim (our country and sovereignty) and enforce the laws.already
By la migra · Posted on Jul 29, 04:22 PMMe and my seven children are US Citizen but there father was born in Mexico and brought here when he was an infant. It is 2 years now that my husband was arrested by the ICE. He has been fighting a deportaion case for at least 9 years he gets released on a bail bond maybe every other year for some reason or another he gets denied that often an appeal and gets picked up by the ICE, or he is to turn his self in. My family is struggling to get by every month my daughter still cries for her daddy at night still wanting to know why daddy can be hear with us? how do you answer that question for a four year old to understand that he wasnt born here so he cant live here? It is one thing if you do the crime you do the time as they say, but my husband has done no crime and he is still doing the time and that isnt right that is time that he is missing out on our kids growing up and he cant get that back.
By JULIE · Posted on Mar 10, 12:58 PM