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TechnographImmigration policy badly flawed
By Staff Editorial, Tufts University
Posted: 3/14/07 Section: Opinion Columns
Exactly one week ago, federal authorities raided a leather-goods factory in New Bedford, Mass. and detained 361 workers on suspicion that they were illegal immigrants.
The majority of those detained were mothers who were not given the opportunity to reach relatives to care for their children.
In the wake of this federal action, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services has sent several officials down to the Port Isabel Detention Center near Harlingen, Texas to interview those being held. Governor Deval Patrick has called the situation a humanitarian crisis.
This strong assertion by the governor is right on the money in light of the family ties torn apart over the course of a day and the children abandoned in the wake of this raid. As reported by the Boston Globe, the DSS is now urging the federal government to release the mother of a four-year-old girl who requires a feeding tube and that of a two-year-old boy with a respiratory ailment. One baby whose mother remains in detention has already been hospitalized for dehydration because she was still breast-feeding.
While we recognize that illegal immigration poses a serious problem in this country, we do not think that this predicament justifies government abuse of human rights. Immigration is a complicated issue with far-reaching effects, and immigration law must take this complexity into account. This raid has left social workers in Massachusetts scrambling to ensure that parentless children find some sort of custodial care.
What is particularly disconcerting about this state of affairs is that all the actions taken by the government were legal. Since the passage of a 1996 immigration reform bill, family circumstances can no longer constitute legitimate considerations for an immigration judge reviewing the case of an illegal immigrant.
The implication of this policy is that American citizens under the age of 18 can all of a sudden find themselves alone, without their parents.
The majority of those detained were mothers who were not given the opportunity to reach relatives to care for their children.
In the wake of this federal action, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services has sent several officials down to the Port Isabel Detention Center near Harlingen, Texas to interview those being held. Governor Deval Patrick has called the situation a humanitarian crisis.
This strong assertion by the governor is right on the money in light of the family ties torn apart over the course of a day and the children abandoned in the wake of this raid. As reported by the Boston Globe, the DSS is now urging the federal government to release the mother of a four-year-old girl who requires a feeding tube and that of a two-year-old boy with a respiratory ailment. One baby whose mother remains in detention has already been hospitalized for dehydration because she was still breast-feeding.
While we recognize that illegal immigration poses a serious problem in this country, we do not think that this predicament justifies government abuse of human rights. Immigration is a complicated issue with far-reaching effects, and immigration law must take this complexity into account. This raid has left social workers in Massachusetts scrambling to ensure that parentless children find some sort of custodial care.
What is particularly disconcerting about this state of affairs is that all the actions taken by the government were legal. Since the passage of a 1996 immigration reform bill, family circumstances can no longer constitute legitimate considerations for an immigration judge reviewing the case of an illegal immigrant.
The implication of this policy is that American citizens under the age of 18 can all of a sudden find themselves alone, without their parents.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 8
Word from Los Angeles
posted 3/14/07 @ 10:39 AM CST
Other lawbreakers who go to jail for crimes have
children too! Having children should not be a reason
to give lawbreakers a pass!
Old Illini
Old Illini
posted 3/14/07 @ 11:31 AM CST
Simply because the illegal immigrant population has caught on to the tactic of using "anchor babies" to defeat enforcement of our immigration laws is no reason to stop enforcement of those laws. (Continued…)
G
posted 3/14/07 @ 12:24 PM CST
Send them home and tell them to use proper channels to get into our country. Actually, give them a swift kick in the rear for wasting my tax money to send them on a cross country tour. (Continued…)
Ed Weirdness
posted 3/14/07 @ 1:07 PM CST
I am not aware of any impediment that would prevent parents who are deported from taking their children with them. Indeed, from the perspective of parental responsibility this would seem manifest! I would surmise that anchor babies are being used increasingly as a dodge because that's the cry that goes up anytime social policy is questioned "what about the children"?
I would question the motivations and the parental skills of any parent who willfully introduces a child into either an untenable environment where the parents cannot responsibly care for the child, or where the parents introduce the child into their law breaking scheme. (Continued…)
Robby Aultman
posted 3/14/07 @ 2:49 PM CST
Crossing into the U.S. and immediately having children has been a tactic by undocumented aliens in Texas for years. Parkland Hospital in Dallas provides "free" healthcare to illegal aliens having babies. (Continued…)
Wanda
posted 3/14/07 @ 3:05 PM CST
Wer'e told these folks walked across burning sands to trespass into the country. An air-conditioned bus back home can't be all that alarming.
Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. (Continued…)
Wesley
posted 3/14/07 @ 11:41 PM CST
Suppose a bank robber would automatically be sentenced to a maximum 5 years sentence.
How many bank robbers attempting to obtain say 1-5 million on a heist would we have?
Further Food For Thought "A LINE IN THE SAND"
Senator Mc Caul's Site http://www. (Continued…)
B. Schulz
posted 3/16/07 @ 10:37 AM CST
If a drunk driver were pulled over by police would the police just let him or her go because they have children at home? If police captured a thief burglarizing a home would they let him or her go because they have children at home? There are more unemployed U. (Continued…)
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