• 27
  • January
    2012

A 2011 report by The University of Arizona, "Disappearing Parents: A Report on Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System," touches on one of the most heart-breaking issues of immigration deportation and detention: U.S. citizen children who are left behind when a parent is deported. While some of these children have other family members in the U.S., others are placed into state custody and foster care.

Even those parents that fight deportation can be detained for long periods of time - months, sometimes years - and may lose touch with their children. Unfortunately, there's very little that is being done to address what is happening.

The report mentions multiple problems involving immigration detention and deportation of parents of minor children in the U.S., including:

  • Parents may "disappear" into the system and can be difficult to find when they are facing immigration detention or deportation.
  • Parents are often afraid to provide information about other family members in the United States. Thus, more children end up in foster care.
  • Immigration detention facilities do not have the programs necessary to help parents reunite with their children.
  • While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has the prosecutorial discretion to decide whether or not to detain immigrants or initiate deportation proceedings, it often fails to use that discretion in these cases.
  • Child welfare workers often believe that parents in detention or facing deportation will not be able to stay in the U.S. and will act upon that belief.

The report recommends that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) create a policy specifically for these types of immigration cases and that the policy include "increased use of parole, prosecutorial discretion, and alternatives to detention." Furthermore, the report suggests that there needs to be more services in detention facilities for parents, and that deportation officers must be trained to understand the challenges involved in deporting or detaining parents.

Source: The University of Arizona, "Disappearing Parents: A Report on Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System," May 2011.