Thread: The feds and Texas quarrel over custody of undocumented kids

Printed from http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2759



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Children of the State
The feds and Texas quarrel over custody of undocumented kids.
Melissa del Bosque | May 16, 2008 | Features
At a Texas airport, federal agents detain state child caseworkers and the undocumented children in their custody. The feds and the state bicker over care of a toddler trapped in a federal immigrant detention center. A foster child fails a mental health assessment and faces deportation as state workers beg the Department of Homeland Security to reconsider.

Across Texas, state and federal workers are clashing over children. Toughened federal rules designed to deter illegal immigration are creating unintended consequences for Texas’ Child Protective Services (CPS). Caseworkers along the Texas-Mexico border are struggling to navigate the new policies. It falls to them to care for undocumented children who have been removed from abusive families. Child welfare is a state issue. Immigration is a federal issue. State workers run the risk of five years in prison and several thousand dollars in fines from the federal government just for shepherding their young undocumented charges.

Sandra Rodriguez has watched the friction increase over the past five years. For more than a decade, Rodriguez has worked as what CPS calls a “border contact liaison.â€

[quote]“They see other 16-year-olds going to a football game in Corpus and they can’t go. Or the entire foster family will go on vacation but they can’t go,â€

Absolutely! Take your children home with you!

"Family values don't stop at the Rio Grande."