Appleseed in Action

11/16/2007

Revealing the Costs of a Broken System – What Happens to Children After Immigration Raids?

“There are approximately five million U.S. children with at least one undocumented parent. The recent intensification of immigration enforcement activities by the federal government has increasingly put these children at risk of family separation, economic hardship, and psychological trauma.” These are the opening lines of a new report issued by the Urban Institute and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) examining the impact of immigration raids on children. Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrant Integration and Civic Participation Program staff worked with Grand Island Public Schools, local churches, and other community leaders to assist the authors in telling this story – one heart-wrenching result of our broken immigration system with serious long-term implications for the future of our communities. Appleseed staff helped organize participants for the study, which looked at three communities, Grand Island, Nebraska; Greeley, Colorado; and New Bedford, Massachusetts.

The report Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America's Children, details the consequences of immigration enforcement operations on children's psychological, educational, economic, and social well-being. It also outlines the heavy burden that workplace raids are placing on communities, school systems, social service providers, and religious institutions, which have acted as first responders for families in these incidents. Click here to read the report.

Together with education, faith, business, and community leaders, Appleseed held a press conference for the local release of this national report. One of the critical findings of the study was that for every two people detained in immigration enforcement operations, one child is left behind. Two-thirds of these children are U.S. citizens and two-thirds are very young – under the age of ten. Click here to read the press release and local newspaper coverage.

“The report makes the important point that no system – no matter how effective – can replace parents when they are taken away from their children," said Darcy Tromanhauser, Director of the Immigrant Integration and Civic Participation Program at Nebraska Appleseed. Click here to watch Darcy on KHAS-TV channel 5 coverage of the release or click here to hear NPRN’s coverage.

Click here to view a video of the immediate aftermath of the New Bedford, MA, raid.

For more information on Nebraska Appleseed’s work on issues affecting immigrant visit www.neappleseed.org/immigrants

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For more information about Nebraska Appleseed, visit www.NeAppleseed.org