In today’s edition of these Tuesday National Alerts, I hope to shed some light on new data about deportations and their harm to children, and to give you an opportunity to act on your beliefs.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently released its latest statistics on parents of U.S. citizen children who have been deported or otherwise removed from the United States. Over 204,000 parents of U.S. citizen children were removed from the country for immigration violations in the period from July 1, 2010 to September 30, 2012, according to that data from ICE, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security.
The bottom line is that, despite much talk from the federal government about U.S. immigration officers having greater discretion to preserve family unity in these cases, we continue to see devastating results for children in mixed-status families.
Here at LIRS, we’re troubled by ICE’s lack of regard for family unity. United States immigration officials and immigration judges need more flexibility to weigh situations and consider the best interests of families when making decisions about detention and removals. We ultimately need Congress to craft an immigration process that promotes family unity and allows new Americans to fully participate in our communities.
Join us in taking action for fair and humane immigration reform!