The next generation promises more headaches for all of us.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/bo...2806a4_forum/0
Forum looks at anti-immigrant feelings
CLAUDINE LoMONACO

Tucson Citizen
Fifteen-year-old Anais Lopez was a good student who rarely missed school.

That changed in early February when U.S. Border Patrol agents took her mom away after a routine traffic stop.

Anais went from high school student to primary caregiver for her two little sisters, 5-year-old Sarais and 10-year-old Irais. Worrying about how to help her mom get back in the country, keeping up the household and shuttling her sisters to school, she barely had time to go to school herself.

Left to their own devices, the girls began selling their belongings, along with donated clothing, at a garage sale to raise money for a coyote, or smuggler, to bring their mom home.

"We thought she'd have a better chance if we could pay somebody," Anais said.

They raised around $45.

Their mother made it back on her own at the end of February, only to find Anais in trouble for truancy.

The school told Anais her mother would have to come in for a meeting.

"But there was a police officer there, so I was scared to call my mom," she said. "I thought they might take her away again. But they told me they would arrest me if she didn't come in, so I called her."

The Lopez siblings are among the 345,000 children living in immigrant families in Arizona, according to the Migration Policy Institute. They make up 25 percent of all children in Arizona.

With poverty rates estimated to be twice the national average, these children, most of whom are U.S. citizens, face steep barriers, according to a panel of Tucson leaders who spoke at a forum on the children of immigrants last night at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 1431 W. Magee Road.

Rising anti-immigrant sentiment has led to a culture of fear among immigrants who are reluctant to seek services, said Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías, who spoke at the forum.

The No. 1 calls the county gets are reports of domestic violence, Elías said.

"When people are scared to pick up the telephone to say, 'Someone's beating up my mama,' that's a problem," he said.

The dozens of immigration and enforcement bills up for debate in the Arizona Legislature will simply exacerbate the problem, said Petra Falcon of the Pima County Interfaith Council, who spoke at the forum.

"Anything that's going to impact a working mom or dad in the household is going to impact a child," Falcon said.

The bills would, among other things, prevent Mexicans from using Mexico-issued matricula consular cards to open bank accounts, prohibit adults from taking publically sponsored English classes without proof of in-state student status and create strict guidelines for employment eligibility.

Kim VanPelt of the Children's Action Alliance, which advocates for children's welfare throughout Arizona, said the state must look at how its practices limit or encourage access to resources for the children of immigrants.

Kids Care, a state program that provides health care to uninsured children, requires monthly co-payments but accepts only checks or money orders.

"Many immigrants don't have checking accounts," she said. "So it's just one more barrier."

Anais and her two sisters, who are U.S. citizens, participate in Kid's Care, but their older brother, who is not a U.S. citizen, can't. Every time he gets sick, it means a lengthy wait in an emergency room.

Anais said her mother moved to this country with her brother from Magdalena, Son., 18 years ago to join her grandmother, who lives in Tucson. She said her mother and brother have been trying to get a green card, which provides residency status for years, but they lack the estimated $4,500 needed to complete the paperwork.

Managing daily finances is tough enough.

Earlier this month, the family was evicted from its small, two-bedroom apartment on Tucson's South Side.

The home is empty except for a few garbage bags full of pots and pans. The family cannot afford the $600 monthly rent and is moving to a cheaper rental.

Anais didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up - before federal agents took her mom away.

Now she knows.

"I want to be a lawyer," Anais said. "I want to help people like my mom. Give them a better life."

Organizers of last night's forum say they want her to get that chance.

For information on how to advocate for children of immigrants, contact Don Grant at 744-4064.

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