Child Abuse Lawsuit Creates Immigration Waves
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Oct 16, 2006 9:38 pm US/Central
Child Abuse Lawsuit Creates Immigration Waves
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"I think it would be an abusive thing to forcibly separate children from their parents under circumstances like that where it is clearly avoidable," Dr. Bennett Leventhal said.
(CBS) CHICAGO A child abuse lawsuit aimed at helping illegal immigrants stay in the country is creating some waves.
Some people believe the lawsuit in support a Chicago mother and her son misses a critical point, and CBS 2's Rob Johnson reports that others believe it's right on target.
The immigration debate has become one of America's most pressing issues. The latest salvo fired came last week with the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of children like 7-year-old Saul Arellano, whose mother Elvira is hunkered down in a Humboldt Park church fighting deportation.
The suit names President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, among others, and claims that such deportations are a form of child abuse.
"They should be able to live in this country with their parents and that is not happening," said Emma Lozano with the Center Without Borders.
That strategy, says CBS 2 legal analyst Irv Miller, is a long shot.
"It's probably not going to be a class action, which is what the mom and the child want it to be to gain the notoriety," Miller said.
But UIC child psychiatry professor Dr. Bennett Leventhal believes that a child in that type of situation faces real emotional damage.
"I think it would be an abusive thing to forcibly separate children from their parents under circumstances like that where it is clearly avoidable," Leventhal said.
But there are others, like Michelle Jacobsen with the Chicago Minuteman Project, who contend that Elvira Arellano is confusing the entire issue.
"Why did a mother put her child in this situation? Because the government didn't do that to her. The government didn't force her to come over the border," Jacobsen said. "The government didn't force her to fraudulently use a Social Security number or to have a child over here when she was illegal. She made all of those choices herself."
Supporters of undocumented immigrants are planning to have many of these children at a huge rally in Washington on Nov. 3, hoping the president will hear their pleas.
Their opponents vow to continue talking about how they believe illegal immigration is hurting this country.
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