California shows concern for children of deported families

While those who live in Riverside are already well aware of how big of an impact immigration issues have on the country, the rest of the country is quickly catching up. This is due in part to recent family immigration and deportation issues, which have taken center stage in the argument for fixing our immigration system quickly.

This issue is a rather large one that affects up to 1 out of every 4 kids currently in the United States. Since 18.4 million children are reported to live with an immigrant family, it means that 1/4th of our children could potentially grow up living in constant fear of deportation, detainment or police suspicion even if they are naturalized as U.S. citizens. One boy has become a figurehead for this argument due to the fact that his older brother was recently deported despite a long and costly court battle.

The fear that this boy now lives with is a fear of deportation and that his parents could be deported next, which is unfortunately a very real concern to have. Many children with undocumented parents have faced this nightmare in reality; the current immigration system has been tearing families apart for decades and it will not change unless a push is made to bring more awareness of these struggles to the population.

While more people are becoming educated about immigration troubles, there are still a lot of hoops for undocumented immigrants to jump through in order to stay with their U.S. citizen children. For anyone facing detainment or deportation issues, it may be wise to seek the counsel of an immigration attorney.

Source: Los Angeles Wave, “Immigration reform is needed now”, Marian Wright Edelman, Nov. 14, 2013