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Deportations taking toll on families

Advocacy group estimates 1.6 million children, spouses separated from kin

The Associated Press
Updated: 7:43 a.m. PT July 18, 2007

An estimated 1.6 million children and spouses have been separated from family members forced to leave the country under toughened 1996 immigration laws, a human rights group said Wednesday.

The separations have taken a toll on families who have sold homes, lost jobs, lost businesses or been thrown into financial turmoil, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.

The widespread impact on American families has been truly devastating, said Alison Parker, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch.

In 1996, Congress toughened immigration laws making immigrants, legal and illegal, deportable according to an expanded list of “aggravated felonies.â€