Roundups of illegals treat children unfairly
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008
By RAUL REYES
HISPANIC LINK
Earlier this year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents burst into a factory in New Bedford, Mass., and rounded up more than 300 undocumented immigrants for detention and deportation. In the ensuing chaos, many parents were afraid to give information about their children, fearing that they would be arrested, too.
Some children literally were left behind, including a breast-feeding baby who refused a bottle and had to be hospitalized for dehydration.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick termed the aftermath of the raid "a humanitarian crisis.
"ICE statistics show that such roundups are on the rise. The number of workplace arrests rose from fewer than 500 in 2002 to more than 3,600 in 2006. By a huge margin, these were mostly administrative arrests, aimed at people lacking proper documentation, as opposed to those who had committed a crime.
Now a study by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research center, has documented the raids' negative impact on children. It found that the number of children separated from their parents was significant. For every two undocumented workers arrested, one child was left behind. In the wake of ICE raids, children were found to suffer from health disorders, psychological trauma and economic instability.
Most of these children are U.S. citizens or legal residents, the institute reported.
According to the Pew Center, there are 5 million children with at least one undocumented parent. In 2005, two-thirds of these (64 percent) were U.S. citizens, 37 percent were 5 and younger, and 65 percent were 10 and younger. So it follows that the immigration raids are directly affecting some of the youngest and most vulnerable.
The ICE raids seem especially harsh considering that the public favors a path to legalization for the 12 million undocumented workers already here. In separate polls taken this year by ABC, CBS, Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg, Fox and Pew, a majority consistently have supported the idea of allowing undocumented workers to obtain citizenship.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/359/story/600009.html
