Blogdolfo

By Adolfo Flores

What Latino advocates have been charging for years now has documentation to validate their concern. Workplace raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are devastating whole communities and children in particular.

A study released Oct. 31 by the National Council of La Raza and The Urban Institute, has concluded that hundreds of children, many born and raised in the United States, suffer from mental and health disorders after their parents are seized in such raids.

The first-of-its-kind report, "Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America's Children," found that for every two detained adults, one child was left behind. Two-thirds of the children were under age 10.

Nearly all of the children in the study exhibited negative emotional and behavioral reactions. For some it led to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety and in one child suicidal thoughts.

In the United States more than 3 million U.S.-born children have at least one undocumented parent.

Between 2002 and 2006 the number of undocumented persons arrested at their workplace increased from 500 to 3,600. Political support to stage many more continues to increase this year.

"The raids have a destabilizing impact on children's families, schools and social network," said report co-author Rosa Maria Castaneda. "All of these influences play a critical factor in all of these children's well-being."

The study followed 30 affected families for months after raids in New Bedford, Mass.; Greeley, Colo.; and Grand Island, Neb., last year. A total of 912 people were arrested and 506 children were directly affected.

Many detainees were held in facilities outside their states and allowed only limited telephone access. While single parents, primary care-givers and those with family health issues were usually released within a day or two, there were inconsistencies in parents' release. Compounding the matter was the fact that some did not disclose they had children for fear the children also would be detained, placed in foster care, or face deportation.

In Greeley and Grand Island, a large number of workers who were arrested accepted voluntary departure. Others were detained for up to six months.

There weren't that many voluntary departures in New Bedford, where almost all those seized were from Guatemala and Central America, the report's authors noted. Initially, community organizations provided most of the children left behind with strong social support, but resources were quickly drained.

Rev. Roy Riley of New Jersey met Berta, a single mother who hid under the floor boards beneath her work station during one of the raids. Berta continues to worry about her son's welfare.

"You could say, well, Berta, you should have thought about that before you moved to this country," Riley said at Zashington, D.C. news conference. "But for the vast majority of these young immigrant families that is exactly what they did. They wanted more than anything to give their children a good home, sufficient food and a good education."

Rep. Zilda Solis, D-Calif., who introduced the Families First Immigration Enforcement Act Oct. 25, is pressing for a hearing on the study.

Her proposal would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to give access to social service agencies to screen and interview detainees because of problems that arise when a person withholds information due to fear and intimidation.

It would also force the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to release sole caretakers, those who care for children with special needs, and pregnant and nursing mothers within 72 hours of their apprehension if they are not subject to mandatory detention and don't pose a flight risk. A Senate companion bill was introduced by John Kerry, D-Mass.

"Members on both sides of the aisle care very deeply about the education, well-being and health of these children," says Miriam Calderon, a senior policy analysis for La Raza. "It's clear that (the raids) are undermining their goals."

The Urban Institute expects to conduct a follow-up study in a year to report the long-term effects that raids have on children.

The study is available at www.nclr.org. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com

(As published in ScrippsNews on Nov. 8, 2007)