NOGALES, Ariz. — U.S. citizens can be deported, so says the law, if their non-citizen parents are deported and they are under 18 years of age.
That’s what almost happened to Maria, one of my students, and her 10-year old brother. Keeping her spot at our school was so important to them that when her mom was deported they decided to leave Maria, then a high school junior, and her brother here.
(© iStockPhoto.com/mrod)
Her mom was making pretty good money cleaning the houses of Anglos in Nogales, Arizona, where a domestic cleaning-lady employment underground thrives. Most Nogales professionals pay about $50 for a full day of cleaning. Usually once a housekeeper who can be trusted is found she stays with the same family for years.
We all hire these wonderful workers and in this win-win deal we get a trusted helper and they get paid under the table, usually with a ride home. Anyway, the old joke is true that having housework help is cheaper than marriage counseling.
Maria didn’t show up to class for a week, then one day after school, during tutoring, she came to my class and asked if we could talk privately. I asked the other students to leave and she told me the story.
The school had begun to call home and the apartment manager was wondering where mom was. If the truth were discovered, Maria and her bother would be deported and she would lose the whole semester in the last three weeks of school.
With the help of a trusted school counselor, we quickly got her transferred to the “alternative” school where they didn’t ask questions. The regular school stopped calling and mom was able to return by paying a pollero. They have resumed their lives, but will continue to live in fear of possible deportation.
Even with no mom, especially with no mom, Maria demonstrated the power and importance of education for the children of those who clean the houses of the more affluent persons already established in this country.
Yes because not paying social security taxes is so cool! Its even cooler than violating immigration law. The really sad part of this story is that you are a teacher of young students and are so flippant where the rule of law is concerned.
Ed you are missing the entire point. You see, being lawful does not necessarily equate to being wright . And about taxes why don’t you start with the big tax evaders in this country and not the underdog?
George, thank you for caring for Maria and her future. Ignore ignorant people like Ed. It’s amazing how many people have Mexican cleaning ladies and don’t face reality that these are hard working people. Ed says they’re not paying social security. No they’re doing something better–helping rich white people get their house cleaned for pennies. How about that Ed? How about the white people who take advantage of these people. How come you don’t call immigration to punish the white people?
George continued success!
Deportation looms over some young Americans
By George Thomson on July 7, 2010
NOGALES, Ariz. — U.S. citizens can be deported, so says the law, if their non-citizen parents are deported and they are under 18 years of age.
Is this yet another incorrect statement ?
Apparently American citizens born to illegal aliens do get mistakenly deported, or intentionally deported after committing a crime. But an American citizen has to be stripped of his/her citizenship. And that is linked to criminal conviction. Furthermore, the deportations predominantly evolve about the blatant and pervasive prevarications told by the aliens and/or their off-springs coupled with the very widespread fraud and identity thefts that are sweeping the country.
There is no law, that I know of, that permits the deportation of Americans under 18 years of age, born to illegal aliens in the USA. And no better place than this forum to have DHS and ICE clear up this distortion.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent CNN a statement saying, “ICE never knowingly details or removes U.S. citizens and the agency has a number of safeguards in place to ensure that this does not occur.”
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Report: Hundreds of U.S. citizens wrongfully deported every year
Published: Monday, July 26, 2010, 9:50 AM Updated: Monday, July 26, 2010, 9:52 AM
Lisa DiVirgilio
AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Tom Tingle, FileFILE – In this April 23, 2010 file photo, Gov. Jan Brewer signs into law, bill SB1070 dealing with illegal immigration during a news conference at the Arizona Department of Transportation in Phoenix.
According to CNN researchers, every year hundreds of Americans are wrongfully deported. Howen Francis was deported to Jamaica after serving a year’s jail sentence for an assault charge in 1999. He told authorities that he thought he was a citizen since he was born in the United States, but he didn’t have the paperwork or access to an attorney to prove it.
When he completed his one year in jail after an assault charge, Francis thought his mistake was in the past. The assault charge stemmed from him throwing rocks at others in a fight when he was 18 years old. The day he was to be released from jail, Francis expected to be greeted by loved ones. Instead, agents came to deport him.
Francis claimed he had no options to fight the charges after he couldn’t provide the paperwork or get access to an attorney, so he signed his own deportation papers. Francis told CNN he could either remain in custody with no end date in sight, or he could be released to freedom in Jamaica.
Rachel Rosenbloom, a professor from Northwestern School of Law who is an expert in immigration law, said that these cases are more common than many think. Rosenbloom told CNN that with the new Arizona law coming into effect, we may see even more American citizens wrongfully deported.
Legal representation is not provided for those who are accused of illegal immigration during a deportation case.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent CNN a statement saying, “ICE never knowingly details or removes U.S. citizens and the agency has a number of safeguards in place to ensure that this does not occur.”Watch Francis’ full story here:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/report_hundreds_of_u
While it is true that lawful may not be what is right by some other standard but it is the closest thing we have and the very foundation of civilized societies. If everyone makes up his or her own mind what is “right”, that is anarchy. Good luck with that as opposed to the rule of law. Ed is not stupid; he is right on the mark with his comment. What do we teach students and do we have a right to teach at all if you teach them obey the law only when it is convenient, pay workers under the table so someone else can pick up the tab for their payroll taxes, etc. One can sympathize with youngsters in this predicament but aiding and abetting them is quite another matter. Minor children, regardless of their citizenship, should always accompany their parents under a removal order. Abandoning their minor children in the U.S. is child abuse.
If George wanted to help these minors, maybe he should have volunteered to be their foster parents.
There is absolutely no reason for a responsible parent to abandon her children. Children are the responsibility of their parents and the children, regardless of where they were born should be required to accompany their parents if deported. US immigration law is not about breaking up families. This Birthright Citizenship mess could corrected with appropriate legislation. Those interested should write to their congressman.