Noreen M. Sugrue is a faculty member in the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, where she is coordinator of Health Policy Initiatives. In a recent op-ed published in the Christian Science Monitor, Sugrue documented the affects of existing and proposed U.S. immigration laws and policy on families. She discusses those points further in an interview with News Bureau International Programs and Studies Editor Melissa Mitchell.
As Congress continues to seek some kind of consensus on immigration reform, current laws continue to have an impact on illegal immigrants currently in the United States - and their families. How, exactly, are families being affected?
In families where at least one parent is an undocumented worker, all family members live with the risk that he or she will be arrested, detained and deported. The family faces economic devastation and the possibility of being torn apart. If the main breadwinner is undocumented, the family faces the risk of having no resources; they will be unable to buy food and face the possibility of being homeless. These risks are present everyday. The fear and unknown are features of everyday life for these families.
Are any of the measures currently being discussed and debated focusing at all on the fate of children born to undocumented workers - children who are by birthright U.S. citizens?
One bill, the Child Citizen Protection Act (HR 5035), introduced in March 2006 by Congressman Jose E. Serrano, is aimed at restoring some discretion to immigration judges when deciding cases where deportation of an undocumented worker is not in the best interest of his/her American-born child. This bill has received little media attention and currently is not central to the immigration debate under way on Capitol Hill or anywhere else in the U.S.
What kinds of problems do you believe will surface if the needs of families are ignored, and new laws result in either splitting up families or making it necessary for U.S.-born children to return with their families to their parents' countries of origin?
The U.S. does not have a history of enacting public policy which results in either de facto or de jure wholesale deportation of American citizens. Many of the immigration proposals currently under consideration would do just that. That represents a sea change in how America protects the best interests of its citizens. Any policies or laws that have a deportation component will result in American children either being left in the U.S. without their parents - policy orphans - or being forced to live outside of the U.S. if they want to remain with their parents. The Urban Institute estimates there are 15 million children of immigrants living in the U.S.; approximately two-thirds of the children of immigrants live in households where at least 1 parent is undocumented. Of all the children in the U.S., children of undocumented workers have the greatest risk of being poor. And while these neediest American children are eligible for services and benefits, their parents all too often do not seek the services and benefits because they fear being identified as undocumented workers.
What, in your view, can be done to make immigration reform more just and humane, where families are concerned?
First, immigration reform must take into account the needs and best interest of children born to undocumented immigrants. These American children deserve to have their best interest and long-term interests protected by the U.S., their native country. Second, immigration reform must include changes to the laws and rules so that not just the most highly educated foreign born may legally immigrate and begin the process of becoming an American citizen. We must allow non-college-educated workers the opportunity to permanently immigrate to the U.S., work, raise a family here, and become a citizen if they desire.