Report: Children Bear Greatest Burden of Obama's Deportation Policy

University of Albany researcher Joanna Dreby has issued a report entitled: "The Burden of Deportation on Children in Mexican Immigrant Families" that has been published in the most recent edition of The Journal of Marriage and Family.

This is what she had to say about the effect on children of President Obama's 400,000 deportations per year mandate: 

“Children are aware of social status differences at very young ages, they may not understand immigration, but they understand that U.S. policies today target immigrants, people who are their friends, neighbors and members of their families.  U.S. citizen children today are growing up afraid of the authorities, who can potentially tear their families apart.  They are associating a stigma with immigration, even though they are the children of immigrants.  This is a very sad direction for a country that prides itself on being a nation of immigrants." 

Here is the abstract from the article:

In 2011, a record number of foreign-born individuals were detained and removed from the United States. This article looks at the impact enforcement policies have had on Mexican families more broadly and children specifically. Drawing on interviews with 91 parents and 110 children in 80 households, the author suggests that, similar to the injury pyramid used by public health professionals, a deportation pyramid best depicts the burden of deportation on children. At the top of the pyramid are instances that have had the most severe consequences on children's daily lives: families in which a deportation has led to permanent family dissolution. But enforcement policies have had the greatest impact on children at the bottom of the pyramid. Regardless of legal status or their family members' involvement with immigration authorities, children in Mexican immigrant households describe fear about their family stability and confusion over the impact legality has on their lives.

I suggest that you supplement any cancellation of removal application that you may file with a copy of this report.