Thread: Study: Kids hurt by immigration raids

Study: Kids hurt by immigration raids
By OSKAR GARCIA
Associated Press Writer
Wed, Oct. 31, 2007

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- Thousands of children whose parents are arrested in immigration raids in the U.S. face mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety and depression, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Urban Institute.

A child is left without at least one parent for every two adults detained in workplace raids, the study said, and most of those children are citizens or legal immigrants.

Read the Study
http://www.urban.org/search/index.cfm

"Those children were born in America, and we forgot about their rights during the raids, because they were left parentless," said Steve Joel, superintendent of Grand Island Public Schools, which encouraged parents to keep their children in school following a December raid at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.

The study was commissioned by The National Council of La Raza, a Washington-based Hispanic civil rights organization.

Researchers visited Grand Island and Greeley, Colorado, two of six sites where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted raids at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants that resulted in about 1,300 arrests. The immigrants arrested were mostly from Mexico and Guatemala.

Researchers also visited New Bedford, Massachusetts, where more than 360 workers were arrested at Michael Bianco Inc., a factory that makes equipment and apparel for the U.S. military.

At the three sites studied, officials had arrested 900 suspected illegal immigrants resulting in 500 children abruptly losing contact with their mother, father or both parents. That left them with a combination of unstable supervision, stress, emotional trauma and material needs that can lead to mental health disorders, researchers found.

The study concluded the U.S. Congress should regulate how immigration officials handle workplace raids, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should have a consistent policy about releasing arrested parents to minimize harm to their children,.

Immigration agents release some arrested parents to care for their children, but the agency does not have a rigid rule for doing so, said ICE spokesman Tim Counts.

"This report takes the bizarre position that ICE is somehow responsible for family disruption caused by parents who make poor decisions," Counts said. "Law enforcement agencies across the nation arrest people who have children every day. Everyone understands that parents are responsible for their actions and the resulting impact on their families."

About 100 people were released in the days following the December Swift & Co. raids for humanitarian reasons, primarily to care for children. Many of them were not released the same day because they lied about whether they had children, Counts said. Some parents lie because they are afraid their kids will be arrested, too, he said.

Mental health professionals interviewed for the study said many Hispanic immigrants cannot afford to seek counseling or do not realize their children are suffering from psychological disorders,

According to 2006 Pew Hispanic Center estimates, there are 3.1 million children who are U.S. citizens living with at least one illegal immigrant parent. And 1.8 million more children are themselves illegal immigrants.

Parents and others have long complained that procedures used by ICE agents make it hard for parents to arrange care for their children in case they are arrested, an observation affirmed by the study.

"We're hearing these stories every week, of something happening, an enforcement action, and kids and families being separated, kids being left behind not taken care of," La Raza spokeswoman Lisa Navarrete said. "Clearly that's a major issue within this whole enforcement strategy.".

Immigration arrests at work sites across America have dramatically increased in the past two years. According to ICE, agents arrested more than 4,000 people in workplace raids from October 2006 through September 2007 and 3,700 during the previous year.

That is up from fewer than 500 arrests in 2002 and 2003, according to the agency.

http://www.star-telegram.com/462/story/286857.html

Mental health professionals interviewed for the study said many Hispanic immigrants cannot afford to seek counseling

Catholic Charities offers these programs. You mean to tell me the illegal aliens don't know about them? Really, I can't believe that.

Also, who are these so called professionals that conducted these studies?

Dixie

Thousands of children are traumatized when their American parents are killed by illegal aliens. I am sure that they suffer PTSD as well. These illegals are not left "parentless" as this article claims-their parents are very much alive.

Sorry I have no sympathy for anchor babies. All my sympathy has been used up on Americans lives who have been taken by illegals.

What a load of BS

Title should read "Kids hurt by illegal alien parents." Take your children with you, self deport, before you are deported. When deported, take your families back to your own countries. Family reunification at its best.

Common Sense.

Psalm 91

Well, OUR children our hurt by illegal immigration every day. Just look at various public school systems, emergency rooms closing etc. and the BILLIONS spent on people who shouldn't even be here! Imagine what we could do with this money if we didn't have to spend it taking care of another country's poor who snuck into OUR country.

__________


Call the Senate: NO AgJOBS amnesty !

Children of criminals (citizen criminals) are hurt everyday, but no activists speak on their behalf. These children are hurt through no fault of their own. Where is the outcry for them?

Why would children of illegal alien criminals be given special treatment when children of criminal citizens are affected also? Can't have it both ways.

The study was commissioned by The National Council of La Raza, a Washington-based Hispanic civil rights organization.

Hence the outcome of the the slanted study. duh! I'd be grabbing my chest if they said there was no ill effects. But like most have already said "Sorry your parents made some really bad choices"

Originally Posted by Nicole

Thousands of children are traumatized when their American parents are killed by illegal aliens. I am sure that they suffer PTSD as well. These illegals are not left "parentless" as this article claims-their parents are very much alive.

Sorry I have no sympathy for anchor babies. All my sympathy has been used up on Americans lives who have been taken by illegals.

Ditto!

Such bad parents to do this to their children