Thread: Immigrants' kids suffer

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/p ... 05/OPINION

Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Immigrants' kids suffer

The forgotten, thus major, sacrifice in the debate surrounding a new immigration law is children born to undocumented mothers in the United States.

These children are American citizens. In theory, they have all the rights and benefits granted to those who are born on U.S. soil.

In practice, this is not so.

The children come into the world with a stigma that will follow many of them for the rest of their lives. Suffice it to say, they are expelled from their own country at an early age. Expelled with parents

With the massive and indiscriminate deportation of undocumented immigrants, a new generation of third-class citizens is in the making.

The children, who have to go with their deported parents, will grow up under adverse conditions. When they return to the United States, as they have a right to do, they will surely encounter many challenges while adapting to their country of origin. Many will arrive aware only of their rights, not their duties as American citizens. We can also assume they will feel resentful.

What a paradox. While the children of undocumented immigrants are faced with a situation in which their only choice is expatriation, thousands of Americans try hard and spend millions of dollars to adopt children from Latin America and other underdeveloped nations.

A recent article by the Associated Press, "Guatemala, children factory for the U.S.?", explains that weak laws and a growing demand by American couples encourages a growing and lucrative adoption industry in Guatemala, which in 2005 represented 1 percent of all children born in that country.

Americans adopted 3,748 Guatemalan children last year; 3,783 were "exported" by that country in the form of adoptions. AP quotes the chief of the minor unit of the Guatemala Procuradura General de la Nacin, Josefina Arellano, "We see there is a child farm or factory here."

Adoption is expensive. The same AP article indicates that just the notary charges are between $15,000 and $18,000 per child.

Guatemala is the third largest provider of adopted children to the United States, according to AP. China holds the first position, with 7,393 children, and Russia the second, with 4,652.

The United States and other rich countries get adopted children from poor countries. This process is supposed to be strictly regulated by the government of origin of the children. This is not always the case, however.

Trade in misery

In Latin America, for example, due to weak laws and many corrupt officers, children who are given up for adoption frequently enter a black market that moves millions of dollars. This is the result of the total misery in which the parents live. Despite this, parents are usually the ones who receive the smallest percentage of the proceeds from the transaction.

Doubtlessly, people who want to adopt children have a right to do so. With this, they exercise their privilege to be parents and their duty to perpetuate the species and contribute to the replenishment of the social group to which they belong.

Perhaps most importantly, these parents' humanitarian efforts give opportunities to poor children to be raised and educated in the United States and actively engage in this society.

Yet, the children of undocumented immigrants born here also have that right. Why should we deny them this right with a treatment so close to cruelty?

This subject must be seriously considered, not only by authorities but also by undocumented immigrants.

Those who, even in the most adverse conditions, keep using children as a way to solve their problems are terribly wrong. Instead, they should work hard to get ahead.

Those who deny themselves the right to find a special person, to fall in love and have children are also wrong.

But the ones who are most wrong are those who show extreme insensitivity by stepping over the dignity and future of these children.

The writer is editor of Nuestra Comunidad, a Spanish-language weekly published by the Courier-Post. This column appears on this page and in the weekly Wednesdays.

Oooooooooooooh! I'm so sick of these poor children stories. Send them back with parents to parent's home country and may they have a long and happy life.