Raids Negatively Affect Children

By Adolfo Flores

It has been more than two months since Jessica's mom was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an immigration raid in Van Nuys, but to her it feels like just yesterday that she watched her mom drive off in an unmarked van.

Several hours later Maria returned to Micro Solutions Enterprises, where she was detained, and was reunited with her daughter. Although Jessica strives to be her mom's support, she says she feels nervous and anxious since the raids.

"You always look worried," Jessica said, "You're always looking at your cell phone and think that while your at school they will come and pick (your mom) up."

Maria notices that her daughter has become distant and at times rebellious since the raid, during which 144 people were taken into custody.

"I don't think they would conduct raids if they knew the damage they were causing our children," Maria said in regards to ICE. "I don't have any family here. What's going to happen to her?"

Jessica, however, is far from being alone. More than 3 million children born in the U.S. have at least one undocumented parent, according to a study conducted by the Urban Institute titled "Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America's Children."

The study focused on the mental and health disorders that children develop after their parents are seized in a raid. It also found that for every two detained adults, one child was left behind. Two-thirds of the children were under age 10.

The first-of-its-kind report found that 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.†

"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.
           
Apart from documenting the distress that some children go through, the study also offered recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security and, more specifically, to ICE.

Among its recommendations, the study says that single parents and primary caregivers should be released by ICE early enough in the day so that their children do not experience disruptions in care.† Also, it recommended that the detainees have access to counsel, and advise them of their right to confer with their country's consular office.

However, Lori K. Haley, spokesperson for ICE, said that these recommendations are unnecessary.

"ICE conducts enforcement raids lawfully and professionally and humanly," Haley said. "We take extraordinary steps to identify and act on humanitarian concerns with illegal immigrants who are arrested."

Haley referred to a set of guidelines that ICE released titled Guidelines for Identifying Humanitarian Concerns among Administrative Arrestees When Conducting Worksite Enforcement Operations.

These guidelines were released following the arrest of 350 workers last March at the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford, Mass., during which an infant underwent serious malnutrition after his mother, who breastfed, was not released for a few days.

"Since the New Bedford raids, our offices have been working closely with ICE to develop guidelines on humanitarian screening for workers arrested in immigration raids," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Congressman William D. Delahunt in a statement. "We hope these guidelines will ensure that pregnant women, nursing mothers, and sole caregivers will no longer be subject to detention."

Haley said that the extent of negative effects that the children of detained parents undergo are not accurately depicted in the study "Paying the Price" and added that ICE is not aware of any of those cases.

"We find it disturbing that some groups continue to use children as media props in support of their illegal immigration agenda's," Haley said. "Frankly we found that in the past the issues regarding humanitarian concerns that advocates of illegal immigration raise are often greatly exaggerated and not based in fact or truth."

"We understand that the arrested criminal and other violators might have a negative impact on their family," Haley said. "The responsibility for any negative consequences lies squarely with the violator.”

Maria, however, doesn't feel like she was a criminal for being in the United States.

"The only thing we came here to do is work," Maria said. "We're not delinquents like ICE wants to treat us and they should think about the damage they cause our children, who were born here."

Earl Cronin, a resident of Prince William County, Va., where some of the nation's harshest local immigration laws were passed back in October of 2007, doesn't buy into studies like these.

"No one forced these people to come here, they chose to come of their own free will, they chose to come knowing that they were violating our immigration laws," Cronin said. "If they're here illegally I have no sympathy for them, not even for their children."

Amid the recent raids in Van Nuys, Torrance and Downtown Los Angeles, The Urban Institute has decided to continue their research in the area.

“I think we are studying some of the same things," said Castaneda. "We are sure that children are being affected in some of the same ways found in the other sights."

So far they have interviewed some twenty-five families and will continue to conduct more. Although researchers have come to no conclusions, so far they have found that one-third of detained parents had underage children.

“We could see that in Van Nuys families were released more promptly," Castaneda said. “A very interesting twist is that this is the first time in the study that (ICE) used bracelets to monitor families."

Parents noted being treated differently by everyone, including their children. Castaneda noted that the bracelets are socially isolating and ostracizing those who wear them.

"We also plan to expand to different types of arrests conducted by ICE," Castaneda said, since the previous study only looked at workplace raids. "In Van Nuys one of the things that interested us is some of the workers were arrested at home on the same day of the raid."

Researchers are also taking a closer look at the effects the raids had on the overall family and resiliency among the children.

In Chatsworth not all of the children exhibited negative traits. Eunice, 15, saw it as a harsh wake up call. While she barely passed her freshman year of high school, her father's six-day detention caused her to take her education more seriously.

"It might be a good thing because it can wake people up from the life they're living," said Eunice, who was in detention the day her father was caught in the raid, "but in the long run it's just harsh and pretty cruel."

However Eunice did note a difference in her nine-year-old sister, Karen, who at first didn't quite grasp the situation. It wasn't until her father, Raul, 36, was gone for several nights that she understood the severity of the situation.

"She would smile and she would laugh," Eunice said, "but it was just different, something about her was different."

The financial hardships have put a strain on the family, especially the girls’ mother who is the sole income provider. Because of this she asked to remain anonymous. Raul notes that she is constantly nervous, stressed out and angry.

“We’ve had to rent out one of the rooms in order to pay the rent,” Raul said referring to a middle-aged woman who quietly entered a nearby room.

Raul now tries to spend as much time with his daughters as possible seeing as how his future in the United States might be cut short. Even so he tries not to worry his youngest daughter.

Karen doesn't really understand the situation. All she knows is that her dad was arrested by the police for being at work.

Adolfo Flores/ El Nuevo Sol
Twelve-year-old Kevin Prada, protested at the May Day Marches in Downtown Los Angeles against the raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).