Under federal
law, any non-U.S. citizen is an alien. Aliens who have entered the United
States without permission, or who have violated the terms of their admission,
are identified under the law as illegal aliens. That is a fact, not an issue
for debate.
With over 11
million immigrants in the United States illegally (as of 2012), the issue of
illegal immigration continues to divide Americans.
Some people say that illegal immigration benefits the US economy through additional tax revenue, expansion of the low-cost labor pool, and increased money in circulation. They contend that immigrants bring good values, have motivations consistent with the American dream, perform jobs that Americans won’t take, and that opposition to immigration stems from racism.
Opponents of illegal immigration say that people who break the law by crossing the US border without proper documentation or by overstaying their visas should be deported and not rewarded with a path to citizenship and access to social services. They argue that people in the country illegally are criminals and social and economic burdens to law-abiding, tax-paying Americans.
Some people say that illegal immigration benefits the US economy through additional tax revenue, expansion of the low-cost labor pool, and increased money in circulation. They contend that immigrants bring good values, have motivations consistent with the American dream, perform jobs that Americans won’t take, and that opposition to immigration stems from racism.
Opponents of illegal immigration say that people who break the law by crossing the US border without proper documentation or by overstaying their visas should be deported and not rewarded with a path to citizenship and access to social services. They argue that people in the country illegally are criminals and social and economic burdens to law-abiding, tax-paying Americans.
Aliens do not enjoy all the privileges of
citizenship, but outside of the immigration domain, and in civil society
generally, they have the same rights as citizens to equal protection under the
Fourteenth Amendment. Legal and political theorists also dispute the
implications of the Constitution’s protection of aliens. While some cite it as evidence of the
nation’s inclusive traditions, others worry that the extension of so many
rights to aliens diminishes the value of citizenship. With this dispute evolve the dilemma of
deportation of alien parent of an American born baby.
When nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when
children come home from school to find their parents missing ... when all this
is happening, the system just isn't working and we need to change it.
- U.S. President
Barack Obama
A question thousands of
other families are wrestling with as a record number of deportations means
record numbers of American children being left without a parent. And it comes
despite President Barack Obama's promise that his administration would focus on
removing only criminals, not breaking up families even if a parent is here
illegally.
Nearly 45,000 such
parents were removed in the first six months of this year, according to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Behind the statistics
are the stories: a crying baby taken from her mother's arms and handed to
social workers as the mother is handcuffed and taken away, her parental rights
terminated by a U.S. judge; teenage children watching as parents are dragged
from the family home; immigrant parents disappearing into a maze-like detention
system where they are routinely locked up hundreds of miles from their homes,
separated from their families for months and denied contact with the welfare
agencies deciding their children's' fate.
At least 5,100 U.S.
citizen children in 22 states live in foster care, according to an estimate by
the Applied Research Center, a New York-based advocacy organization, which
first reported on such cases last year.
And an unknown number of
those children are being put up for adoption against the wishes of their
parents, who, once deported, are often helpless to fight when a U.S. judge
decides that their children are better off here.
Unfortunately, everyone seems to agree that the current system is
broken, but people don't seem to understand that it breaks families too.
Reference:
Paula Rothenberg – Race, Class, and Gender
in the United States.
