The Pros And Cons Of Undocumented Parents

Imagine having to deal with the heartache of having to say goodbye to your parents for who knows how long just because they’re immigrants. Many children have to go through this hardship. At least half a million US citizen children have experienced the deportation of at least one undocumented parent. Undocumented parents of US citizen children should be allowed to remain in the US because if the parents are deported it could cause the child to be at risk for economic instability and psychological damage, parents also face the risk of losing their parental rights.
What happens when the main bread-winner of the family is deported? Well before a parent is deported the family struggles because of the parents status.“A study of immigration enforcement
in six U.S. locations between 2006 and 2009 found that families lost 40 to 90 percent of their income, or an average of 70 percent within six months of a parent’s immigration-related arrest, detention, or deportation.” (“U.S. citizen children impacted...”, 2017) . Since the majority of the deportees are men, the mothers are left with the duty of taking care of the children, upholding financial duties and fulfilling household duties. Mothers may have to leave their children all alone at home at night just to get shifts to be able to keep their family afloat. Not having enough income coming into the house, therefore could cause the older children to drop out of school in order for them to help support the family. Families may no longer be able to afford rent and be forced to move homes, schools and sometimes may even have the children split up with different family members. The remaining parent may have a hard time getting benefits because of their illegal status, while their children could be eligible they would be afraid to seek help because of fear of deportation to them also.
Even before a parent is deported, they often live in fear of being deported and having to leave their children behind.
For children the disappearance of a parent is greater to them then it could be to a spouse. The parent has to make the decision of whether to leave their child behind with relatives or taking them and having them start over in a new country. When a parent is deported it could cause the children emotional stress. “studies find that children are affected in multiple psychological and behavioral aspects, including loss of appetite, difficulties sleeping, anxiety, increased fears, crying, withdrawal and clinginess”(“The Effects of Parental…”, 2016 ). Even before the child could be born, they could be born underweight or have complications during birth. ”Magana Ortiz’ departure has left uncertainty for his family over his well-being in Mexico and their future in Hawaii.” (Cole and Essuyan, 2017) When the parent is deported their family also begins to worry out about whether the parent will be alright or not. “The emotional and behavioral harms experienced by children following a parent’s detention or deportation were exacerbated by difficulty or inability to communicate with detained parents.”(Deportation of a parent can…”, 2015). Many times the kids might not be able to see their parent(s) again after they are deported because they could lose contact with each
other. Furthermore, when a parent is deported, they risk losing their parental rights because the kids are left alone and not under their supervision.”My kids were born here. What will happen with them? We don't know, and that's the fear we have.” (Undocumented Parents sweat out..”, 2011). While the parent could have already made plans about who would care for their children if they were to ever be deported, it is not always immediate. Consequently the child could very well be taken into Child Protective Services and the custody would be settled in court. “Federal law requires states to pursue termination of parental rights if the parent has been absent for 15 out of 22 consecutive months, and some states allow proceedings to begin even sooner.”(What Happens To A..”) The parent could no longer be present in the child's life because they could have been sent to a detention center far away or were denied access to court hearings.
Although those would be the consequences of the parents being deported, the parents are still here illegally, which does not change their status in the U.S.. Parents could be having “anchor babies” which are children born to non-citizen parents, believing that because they have a U.S. citizen they would be allowed to stay. “Immigration courts routinely reject claims that an undocumented parent must remain in the United States to care for a U.S. citizen child.” (Ross ). Even then, the parent must wait until the child is 21 years of age to begin the lengthy process for their parents to be legal in the U.S.. Whether the child is born in the U.S. or not the immigrant should still face the consequences.
However, not all parents that have children born in the U.S. could be doing it to get papers. They could simply just be trying to give their children a better life than they ever had, not all of them are doing it for the benefit that could come with having a child born in the U.S... Separating a child from parents is not good decision because of the problems that come after that. Some of the changes could be irreversible, like the psychological damages and economic instability that could come with it. Life is hard enough when you have your parents without you now, imagine what it is like to have your parents be ripped away from you because of their status in a country.
In conclusion, parents should be allowed to stay in the U.S if they have a child that is a U.S. citizen. With deportation of a parent comes the risk of economic instability, psychological damage and the risk of parents losing their parental rights.Their parents like mine being deported could be putting the risk of economic instability, caused psychological damage to them and the parents risk losing their parental rights . Instead the government should be more lenient on how they deal with the situation of having the parent deported. A parent should never be ripped away from their children.