Exiling Children, Creating Orphans:How Deportation Hurts Us All

Luis H. Zayas, Ph.D.

Children’s Policy Conference

Texans Care for Children

February 26, 2014

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Deportation leads to

Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court1922

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“the loss of both property and life; or of all that makes life worth living.”

The Immigration-Deportation Environment

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Conflicting local & state & federal policies Aggressive enforcement practices Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Prosecutorial discretion

11.7 million unauthorized immigrants 5.5 million children in mixed-status families 4.5 million are U.S. citizen-children

Pew Hispanic Center, 2011, 2012

2005 1,291,065 246,4312006 1,206,412 280,9742007 960,772 319,3822008 1,043,774 359,7952009 869,828 395,1652010 752,307 387,2422011 641,601 388,4092012 643,474 419,3842013 (awaiting figures) 368,644

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ICE: “Record Levels of Enforcement”

Year Apprehensions Removals

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2013

Demographers’ Ratio

2:1 Capps et al., 2007

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Applying the Ratios

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2005 246,431 123,215 61,6082006 280,974 140,487 70,2442007 319,382 159,691 79,8462008 359,795 179,897 89,9492009 395,165 197,582 98,7922010 387,242 193,621 96,8112011 388,409 194,204 97,1032012 419,384 209,692 104,8462013 368,644 184,322 92,161

TOTALS 3,165,426 1,582,711 791,360

Year Removals 2:1 4:1

Harm to Families Parents making anguishing decisions

Children separated from parents Siblings separated from each other Older siblings taking care of younger siblings Children placed in custody of child welfare Parental rights terminated, sometimes

Creating two classes of citizen-children Exiles Orphans

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Harm to Children

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Psychological & Social Effects Anxiety & hyper-vigilance Depression Trauma Impaired attachment & bonding Ambiguous loss and grief Behavioral disorders Uneven conditions of siblings (USC v. UNDOC) DACA-eligible v. DACA-ineligible siblings

UT Austin StudyExploring the Effects of Parental Deportation

Three groups of citizen-children Boys and girls ages 10-15 In U.S. or Mexico: post-deportation v. no deportation

Group A: Parents deported, child in Mexico Group B/C: Parents deported, child stays in US Group D: No deportation experience, family in US

Mental health measures Depression; anxiety; overall behavior; self-concept;

trauma In-depth interviews

9Study funded by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development

UT Austin StudyPreliminary Results

UT Austin Study

10Study funded by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development

Variable Overall parent deported

No parent deported

Significance

Somatic problems 57.1 59.2 55.2 Statistical

Behavioral adjustment 51.0 47.7 53.9 Statistical

Intellectual and school status 50.0 47.6 52.2 Statistical

Freedom from anxiety 49.5 46.3 52.4 Statistical

Happiness and satisfaction 52.6 48.7 56.2 Statistical

Depression 54.3 58.3 50.7 Statistical

Overall anxiety 25.5 26.2 24.8 Clinical

Separation anxiety 6.9 6.6 7.1 Clinical

NOTE: Study of 61 citizen-children (32 girls, 29 boys) with an average age of 11 years 9 months. The ‘parent deported’ group includes children in Mexico and U.S.

Collateral Damage

Visiting condemnation on the head of an infant is illogical and unjust. . . . Obviously, no child is responsible for his birth, and penalizing the child is an ineffectual—as well as unjust—way of deterring the parent.

William J. Brennan, Jr., U.S. Supreme CourtPlyer v. Doe (1982)

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Harm to Our Nation

Developmental health of our nation Requires a healthy, well-educated, law-abiding labor

force and citizenry Developmental outcomes that are truncated

Behavioral & social-emotional competence Literacy & education Creativity

What will be the skills abilities of these returning citizens?

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Policy Implications, I

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Recognize that present system is no longer a viable Change laws

Incorporate explicit language for children’s well-being during parents’ detention/removal

Redefine “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to include mental health and education

Humane prosecutorial and judicial discretion Keep immigrant parents out of detention Ensure child’s best interest before detaining/removing

parent Favor supervised release of parent over detention Ensure children’s access to parents during detention Ensure family unity & equity, and family reunification

Policy Implications, II

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If must deport, provide assistance to child in US or outside Practices

Safe havens or school programs to assist children directly after arrests

USDHS and USDHHS develop child protection and trauma-minimizing methods

Improve communication between immigration and child welfare systems

Involve service providers for citizen-children facing exile State level:

Grant extensions of child dependency cases to avoid terminating the parental rights

Educate child welfare and juvenile courts on detention and deportation