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In the United States today, more than 16.7 million people share a home with at least one family member, often a parent, who is undocumented. Roughly six million of these people are children under the age of 18. Consequently, immigration enforcement actions-and the ever-present threat of enforcement action-have significant physical, emotional, developmental, and economic repercussions for millions of children across the country. Deportations of parents and other family members have serious consequences that affect children-including U.S.-citizen children-and extend to entire communities and the country as a whole.

This fact sheet provides an overview of the children who are impacted by immigration enforcement actions, the challenges and risk factors that these children face, and the existing mechanisms designed to protect children if a parent is detained or deported.

Millions of U.S.-citizen children have undocumented parents and family members.

4.4 million U.S.-citizen children under the age of 18 lived with at least one undocumented parent as of 2018.

6.1 million U.S.-citizen children under the age of 18 lived with an undocumented family member as of 2018.

As many as half-a-million U.S.-citizen children experienced the deportation of at least one parent from 2011 through 2013.

As of 2017, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti had an estimated 273,000 U.S.-citizen children. If these TPS designations are terminated, many of these parents will become undocumented.

17.8 million children in the United States had at least one foreign-born parent, including parents who were naturalized citizens, lawfully present immigrants, or undocumented immigrants, as of 2019.

Immigration enforcement-and the threat of enforcement-can negatively impact a child's long-term health and development.

A child's risk of experiencing mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and severe psychological distress increases following the detention and/or deportation of a parent. Since late 2016, doctors and service providers report having seen more children exhibiting stress- and anxiety-related behavioral changes, including symptoms of "toxic-stress," due to fear that a family member will be deported.

Children experience toxic stress when they are suddenly separated from their parents, which negatively impacts brain development. They are also at greater risk of developing chronic mental health conditions that include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as physical conditions such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

A 2010 study of immigration-related parental arrests (at home or worksites) found that the majority of children experienced at least four adverse behavioral changes in the six months following a raid or arrest. Compared to the previous six months, children cried or were afraid more often; changed their eating or sleeping habits; and/or were more anxious, withdrawn, clingy, angry, or aggressive.

A 2020 study found that the detention or deportation of a family member was associated with significantly higher rates of suicidal thought, alcohol use, and aggression among Latino adolescents in Atlanta, Georgia.

A 2020 study examined the impact on children, families, and communities of worksite raids in Ohio, Texas, and Mississippi. The study found that many of the children of workers swept up in the raids exhibited signs of PTSD, including difficulty sleeping, frequent crying, and heightened fear.

Even before birth, immigration enforcement can put a child's health at risk. The 2008 worksite raid in Postville, Iowa (the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history) was tied to premature and underweight births-complications that put babies at risk for infant death or long-term health problems. Researchers found that babies born to Latina mothers in Iowa within 37 weeks of the raid were 24 percent more likely to be underweight compared to births over the same amount of time one year earlier. This increased risk was not evident in babies born to non-Latina white mothers in Iowa.

Fear and uncertainty among immigrant families leads to decreased participation in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In turn, lack of health coverage through Medicaid/CHIP can hinder a child's healthy growth and development and threaten a family's financial stability. U.S.-citizen children with at least one parent who is an immigrant are more likely than children with U.S.-born parents to be uninsured.

Children who reside in communities that partner with ICE or are the focus of ICE raids experience negative educational outcomes.

Communities with local law enforcement agencies that choose to partner with ICE by entering into 287(g) agreements experience a large displacement of Hispanic students as families choose to leave or avoid moving into those communities. A Stanford University study analyzing the effects of 287(g) agreements on public school enrollment found that when local communities entered into 287(g) agreements between 2005 and 2010, the number of Hispanic students decreased nearly 10 percent within 2 years.

Large-scale raids by ICE can impact school attendance for students with friends or family members affected by raids. After a mass raid in eastern Tennessee occurred in April 2018, more than 500 students were absent from school the following day.

Educators surveyed in 2017 and 2018 reported several concerns related to immigration enforcement, including student absences, decline in academic performance, and less involvement from parents. Eighty-four percent of educators said students from immigrant families expressed concerns about enforcement while at school.

A 2020 study analyzed the educational outcomes of Latino students in school districts located in communities where large numbers of deportations were taking place. The study found that the number of deportations occurring in the larger community correlated with greater gaps between white and Latino students in terms of math achievement and chronic absenteeism.

The detention or deportation of a parent puts children at risk of economic instability.

The deportation, and even the arrest or detention, of a parent or other household member has significant short- and long-term financial implications. U.S.-citizen children and any remaining family members can face substantial economic disadvantages following the removal of a primary provider. In general, increases in immigration enforcement have been linked to higher poverty rates among U.S.-citizen children with parents who are likely to be undocumented.

A study of immigration enforcement in six U.S. locations between 2006 and 2009 found that families lost 40 to 90 percent of their income, or an average of 70 percent, within six months of a parent's immigration-related arrest, detention, or deportation.

The ability to afford housing may become more tenuous following the deportation of a provider, resulting in the loss of a family's home and more frequent relocations.

A 2016 study of immigration enforcement and housing foreclosures found that "deportations exacerbate rates of foreclosure among Latinos by removing income earners from owner-occupied households." Furthermore, the research revealed that counties with 287(g) agreements, which authorize immigration enforcement collaboration between local police and ICE, had substantially higher foreclosure rates among Latinos.

An analysis of 2018 Census data found that when households lose the income of an undocumented family member, the family's income falls by as much as 45 percent. An estimated 908,891 households with at least one U.S.-citizen child would fall below the poverty line if the undocumented breadwinners in those families were deported.

Children may end up in the child welfare system following the detention or deportation of a parent.

Parents-regardless of immigration status, detention, or deportation-have a constitutional right to custody of their children (unless deemed unfit). While the child welfare system generally recognizes that it is in a child's best interest to remain with a parent or family member, immigration enforcement can negatively impact parental rights and thus a child's well-being. For example, the lack of coordination between agencies has historically led to prolonged family separation and even termination of parental rights when a parent is detained or deported.

To ensure that enforcement activities did not "unnecessarily disrupt the parental rights" of parents or legal guardians of minor children, ICE issued its Parental Interests Directive in 2013. The Parental Interests Directive was replaced in 2017 with the Detained Parents Directive, which eliminated many aspects of the 2013 directive, including guidance for the use of prosecutorial discretion in cases involving children and all references to parental rights. The 2017 directive instead instructs ICE agents to "remain cognizant of the impact enforcement actions may have" on lawful permanent resident (LPR) or U.S.-citizen children.

According to ICE's 2017 Detained Parents Directive, when LPR or U.S.-citizen minor children are encountered during immigration enforcement, ICE agents should "generally accommodate" the parent or legal guardian's efforts to make childcare arrangements before contacting local child welfare or law enforcement to take temporary custody of the children.

If a parent is unable to arrange childcare or custody prior to detention or deportation, the child may be taken by the state's Child Protective Services (CPS) for placement and case management. The child is usually placed in an emergency shelter, group home, or with a relative, friend, or stranger in a foster home while custody is determined in family court.

An estimated 5,000 children in foster care had a detained or deported parent in 2011, according to a national study.

Children in foster care in counties with 287(g) agreements were 29 percent more likely to have detained or deported parents compared to non-287(g) counties studied in 2011.

There are limited mechanisms to safeguard the parental rights of parents who are detained or deported.

All parents have the right to receive a notification of custody proceedings affecting their children, attend such proceedings, and receive copies of related court documents. Yet there are few enforceable, permanent policies in place to protect these rights for parents who are detained or deported.

Federal law mandates that parental rights be terminated if a child has been out of a parent's custody for 15 of the past 22 months. Policies and procedures vary by state, but in order to maintain or regain parental rights, CPS generally implements a reunification plan that requires a parent to have regular contact with the child and participate in family court hearings. Detained or deported parents have historically faced significant barriers to these requirements.

Parents may request release from detention in order to care for their children while they are in immigration proceedings. However, ICE no longer provides its personnel with guidance for exercising such discretion in cases that involve a child.

The 2017 directive generally instructs agents to facilitate regular visitation for detained parents and their minor children, though it no longer emphasizes in-person visitation as opposed to visitation through video or teleconferencing. ICE personnel are also instructed to arrange for a detained parent's participation in custody proceedings when required by a court.

Significant issues persist for detained parents who may be dealing with both immigration and custody proceedings. Since ICE is not required to inform CPS of a parent's whereabouts, CPS may have difficulty locating and properly notifying a detained parent; family courts and caseworkers may not understand why a parent is detained and unable to participate in proceedings; and ICE officials may underestimate the impact that enforcement has on U.S.-citizen children who are likely to be left behind.

Parents with a final deportation order must make the difficult decision of whether to bring their children-including U.S.-citizen children-with them.

From 2013 to 2018, ICE deported more than 231,000 people who reported having at least one U.S.-citizen child. In 2019, ICE deported 27,980 people with U.S.-born children. While the government does not track whether U.S.-citizen children stay in the United States or leave with a deported parent, both scenarios occur and pose challenges.

If parental rights remain intact, parents with a pending deportation may make custody arrangements for their children to stay in the United States. ICE is supposed to "accommodate, to the extent practicable," a detained parent's efforts to make guardianship or travel arrangements for the child prior to deportation.

If a child's custody is still being determined after a parent has been deported, the ability of the parent to regain custody or participate in proceedings-even if the court requires the parent's attendance-is extremely limited. ICE no longer has guidance to consider facilitating the travel of a deported parent back to the United States to participate in proceedings that may result in the termination of parental rights.

Deported parents have the right to reunite with their children outside of the United States as long as the reunification plan is ongoing, but this requires significant coordination between family members, the parent country's consulate, and U.S. state and federal agencies. It can be difficult for deported parents to prove that they can provide for their children in a stable and safe environment in the country of deportation, based on many of the same conditions that may have triggered the parent's migration to the United States in the first place.

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U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement - American Immigration Council

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Deportations of parents and family members have serious consequences that affect children and extend to communities and the country as a whole.

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Physical effects on communities

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In the United States today, there are more than 9 million children whose parents are undocumented immigrants, the majority from Mexico and Latin America (Passel et al., 2014; Taylor, Lopez, Passel & Motel, 2011). Half of these children, or about 4.5 million, are U.S. citizens - born to undocumented immigrant parents on American soil and, as such, accorded birthright citizenship by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Typically, citizen-children and their undocumented siblings live in homes in which one or both parents are undocumented immigrants. In these "mixed-status families," citizen-children have all of the experiences of being one unit that shares bloodlines, lineage, affection and interdependence. What they don't share is a common legal status, which can be a source of psychological anguish and problems for citizen-children.

Living under the threat of deportation

Citizen-children endure many stressors beyond the deportability of their parents. For example, because of the many relocations of homes and communities as parents seek better employment, or the separation from parents who may live at some distance in order to support their families, citizen-children often experience the absence of parents' attention and affection. The greatest stressor for citizen-children may be the fear of their parents' discovery by U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. Experiencing their parents' arrest, detention and deportation can complicate citizen-children's pre-existing stress and detrimentally impact their mental health (Zayas, 2015).

Citizen-children's fears of their parents' deportation are not unfounded. In the past decade, nearly 2 million persons have been removed from the U.S., 81 percent of them to Latin America. In communities where mixed-status families live, the effects of deportation are very visible. Neighbors, friends and family members have often been touched by deportation. Children have witnessed arrests. Their classmates recount the deportation of an uncle, aunt, older sibling or parent. They may even enact scenes of ICE raids in their play (Zayas, 2015). Citizen-children don't have to know the statistics presented by demographers: that for every two adults deported, one citizen-child is directly affected (Capps, Castañeda, Chaudry & Santos, 2007). These statistics only punctuate what they know and what they live.

In addition to disruptions in their lives and separations from parents, citizen-children and their undocumented siblings frequently live in poverty, suffer discrimination, watch and experience their parents' own emotional distress, and have poor physical and mental health (American Psychological Association, 2012). Parents suffer economic hardships that limit their capacity to pay for adequate housing, and often rely on overcrowded households and frequent moves (Ayón, Gurrola, Salas, Androff & Krysik, 2012). Regardless of legal status, children of undocumented immigrants more often suffer from food insecurity than children of US citizens (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2014; Kalil & Chen, 2008; Ortega et al., 2009).

Citizen-children of undocumented parents access and utilize health care services much less than children with citizen parents. In spite of the fact that citizen-children have the right to health care, their parents may avoid encounters with providers for fear of discovery. Alex Ortega and colleagues (2007) confirmed that undocumented immigrants make fewer visits to health care providers than citizens with authorized immigrant status. Undocumented parents are not only less likely to use health care services because they lack health insurance and fear being reported to immigration authorities, but also may not use social services and public programs such as food stamps and child care subsidies, for which their citizen-children are eligible (Xu & Brabeck, 2012; Yoshikawa, 2011). "Scare tactics" such as being asked for identification cards by service providers are among the reasons immigrant mothers lack access to care for their children, despite these services being available for their U.S.-born children (Ayón, 2014). Children of undocumented parents are also less likely to enroll in public preschool programs and have lower rates of positive development-promoting activities than children of citizens or legal permanent residents (Crosnoe, 2006; Hernandez, Denton & Macartney, 2008; Kalil & Crosnoe, 2009; Kalil & Chen, 2008; Matthews & Ewen, 2006; Ortega et al., 2009; Yoshikawa, 2011).

The psychological toll accumulates for citizen-children in mixed-status families. Uncertainty about their lives and their futures is ever-present (Chavez, Lopez, Englebrecht & Viramontez Anguiano, 2012). As parents' risk of deportation rises, so too does the stress of their children (Brabeck & Xu, 2010; Yoshikawa, 2011). The lingering possibility of deportation of parents leaves children with constant anxiety and vigilance about the potential becoming real (De Genova, 2010; Dreby, 2012; Talavera, Núñez-Mchiri, & Heyman, 2010). Rules often govern the lives of citizen-children: "be silent about your family, tell no one about us" and "be still, don't draw attention by anything you do" (Zayas, 2015). Breaching these rules could result in a parent's deportation, and with that comes guilt and shame.

Migration-related family disruption

Unfortunately for many citizen-children, deportation-related separation is not the first family separation they have experienced. Deportation-related separation often occurs within the context of premigration and migration-related stress and trauma. Adults and children often make dangerous journeys in search of safety from gang violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, poverty and oppression in their home countries. Migration-related family separation, particularly between mother and child, has negative psychological impacts on both children and parents that persist even after reunification (Gindling & Poggio, 2009). During the journey, they may be exposed to further violence, including physical and sexual abuse, and exploitation (Amnesty International, 2010; Infante, Idrovo, Sánchez-Domínguez, Vinhas & González-Vázquez, 2012; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2015). Despite potentially being eligible for asylum or other forms of immigration relief, many immigrants are detained in facilities with limited access to legal representation or mental health services.

In addition to the negative physical and emotional health consequences of premigration or migration-related stress, trauma and violence, immigrant detention itself is related to persistent negative mental health outcomes, including depression, PTSD and anxiety (Coffey, Kaplan, Sampson & Tucci, 2010; Robjant, Hassan & Katona, 2009; Steel et al., 2006). Detention also creates disruptions to the family unit, which may include role reversal of parents and children and undermined attachment relationships (Silove, Austin & Steel, 2007).

Living without parents

Parents' legal vulnerability, detention and deportation are strongly associated with depression, anxiety, fears of separation, social isolation, self-stigma, aggression, withdrawal and negative academic consequences among children (Brabeck & Xu, 2010; Chavez et al., 2012; Delva et al., 2013; Dreby, 2012; Gonzales, Suárez-Orozco & Dedios-Sanguineti, 2013). Allen, Cisneros and Tellez (2013) showed that citizen-children were significantly more likely to show signs of depression, anxiety, aggression and conduct problems than children whose parents were not deported or whose parents were in the process of deportation.

Zayas (2015) conducted a study of three groups of citizen-children of undocumented immigrant parents: children who returned with deported parents back to Mexico; children who remained in the U.S. following a parent's deportation; and children whose undocumented parents were not in deportation proceedings. The results underscored the psychological harm of deporting parents of citizen-children. Children who moved to Mexico with their deported parents reported symptoms of depression and emotional problems and described more physical symptoms than children whose undocumented parents were not in deportation proceedings. Children whose parents were detained or deported (whether the child returned to Mexico or stayed in the U.S.) were more likely to report depressive symptoms, negative mood, physical symptoms and negative self-esteem. All children in the study showed probable anxiety disorders, including separation anxiety disorder.

Qualitative analysis of these data explored the ways that deportability shapes citizen-children's understanding of their sense of belonging (i.e., to family; place; identity as American) (Zayas & Gulbas, 2016). Three major themes emerged, reflecting how children negotiate their place in a social world of family, neighbors and friends, a world that is divided by legal status: discovery; rupture; and exclusion. Through discovery, or learning that their parents were undocumented, children understood acutely how legal status conferred social and economic privilege. Children realized that their own belonging was irrevocably tied to their parents' illegality and deportability, generating a sense of not belonging (to the U.S. or to Mexico). The second theme was of rupture - both of family and geographic bonds - due to deportation. The family unit was now broken. This led to the third theme, the sense of exclusion from citizenship, community and place, and family.

A role for mental health professionals

Families, in addition to the service providers and immigration attorneys working alongside them, are often overwhelmed with this complex array of challenges. Mental health professionals are well placed to provide assessments, support, information and therapeutic services in response to the psychosocial impacts of detention, deportation and other migration-related stress and trauma. It is critical that these factors, in addition to family separation and threats of detention and deportation, be included in psychological assessment and evaluation across multiple settings - including health and mental health services, educational settings and temporary shelters. Clinicians are also often uniquely positioned to conduct evaluations and offer professional expertise to immigration attorneys and courts during lengthy legal processes towards immigration remedies. In light of recent and troubling displays of hatred, fear and anti-immigrant sentiments that keep migrants from feeling safe and prevent them from seeking help, the community of mental health providers can also engage in community-level advocacy and outreach initiatives in support of citizen-children and mixed status families. Finally, it is critical that mental health experts play a role in the close examination of current border militarization, detention and deportation policies that separate families, and the promotion of trauma-informed solutions for children and their families.

References

Allen, B., Cisneros, E.M., & Tellez, A. (2013). The children left behind: The impact of parental deportation on mental health. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 1-7.

American Psychiatric Association. (2008). Symposium: Mental health of immigrant children. Washington, D.C.: 161st Annual Meeting; 2008.

American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Immigration (2012). Crossroads: The psychology of immigration in the new century. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/topics/ immigration/immigration-report.pdf (PDF, 1.35MB).

Amnesty International (2010). Invisible victims: Migrants on the move in Mexico.

Ayón, C. (2014). Service needs among Latino immigrant families: Implications for social work practice. Social Work, 59, 13-23.

Ayón, C., Gurrola, M., Salas, L.M., Androff, D., & Krysik, J. (2012). Intended and unintended consequences of the employer sanction law on Latino families. Qualitative Social Work, 11(6), 587-603.

Brabeck, K., & Xu, Q. (2010). The impact of detention and deportation on Latino immigrant children and families: A quantitative exploration. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 32(3), 341-361.

Capps, R., Castañeda, R.M., Chaudry, A., & Santos, R. (2007). Paying the price: The impact of immigration raids on America's children. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute for National Council of La Raza.

Chavez, J.M., Lopez, A., Englebrecht, C.M., & Viramontez Anguiano, R.P. (2012). Sufren Los Niños: Exploring the impact of unauthorized immigration status on children's well-being. Family Court Review, 50(4), 638-649.

Coffey, G.J., Kaplan, I., Sampson, R.C., & Tucci, M.M. (2010). The meaning and mental health consequences of long-term immigration detention for people seeking asylum. Social Science & Medicine, 70(12), 2070-2079.

Crosnoe, R. (2006). Mexican roots, American schools: Helping Mexican immigrant children succeed. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press.

De Genova, N. (2010). The deportation regime: Sovereignty, space and the freedom of movement. In N. De Genova & N. Peutz (Eds.), The deportation regime (pp. 33-65). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Delva, J., Horner, P., Sanders, L., Martinez, R., Lopez, W.D., & Doering-White, J. (2013). Mental health problems of children of undocumented parents in the United States: A hidden crisis. Journal of Community Positive Practices, 13, 25-35.

Dreby, J. (2012). The burden of deportation on children in Mexican immigrant families. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 74, 829-845.

Gindling, T.H. & Poggio, S. (2009). Family separation and the educational success of immigrant children (UMBC Policy Brief No. 7). Baltimore: Department of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Retrieved from http://publicpolicy.umbc.edu/files/2014/04/Immigrationbrief.pdf (PDF, 453KB).

Gonzales, R.G., Suárez-Orozco, C., & Dedios-Sanguineti, M.C. (2013). No place to belong contextualizing concepts of mental health among undocumented immigrant youth in the United States. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(8), 1174-1199.

Hernandez, D.J., Denton, N.A., & Macartney, S.E. (2008). The lives of America's youngest children in immigrant families. Zero to Three. 29(2), 5-11.

Infante, C., Idrovo, A.J., Sánchez-Domínguez, M.S., Vinhas, S., & González-Vázquez, T. (2012). Violence committed against migrants in transit: experiences on the Northern Mexican border. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 14(3), 449-459.

Kalil, A. & Chen, J. (2008). Family citizenship status and food insecurity among low-income children of immigrants. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development, 121, 43-62.

Kalil, A. & Crosnoe, R. (2009). Two generations of educational progress in Latin American immigrant families in the United States. In E. Grigorenko & R. Takanishi (Eds.), Immigration, diversity, and education (pp. 188-204). New York: Routledge.

Matthews, H. & Ewen, D. (2006). Reaching all children: Understanding early care and education participation among immigrant families. Washington, D.C.: Center for Law and Social Policy.

Ortega, A.N., Fang, H., Perez, V.H., Rizzo, J.A., Carter-Pokras, O., Wallace, S.P., & Gelberg, L. (2007). Health care access, use of services, and experiences among undocumented Mexicans and other Latinos. Archives of Internal Medicine, 167(21), 2354-2360.

Ortega, A.N., Horwitz, S.M., Fang, H., Kuo, A.A., Wallace, S.P., & Inkelas, M. (2009). Documentation status and parental concerns about development in young U.S. children of Mexican origin. Academic Pediatrics, 9(4), 278-282.

Robjant, K., Hassan, R., & Katona, C. (2009). Mental health implications of detaining asylum seekers: systematic review. The british journal of psychiatry, 194(4), 306-312.

Silove, D., Austin, P. & Steel, Z. (2007). No refuge from terror: The impact of detention on the mental health of trauma-affected refugees seeking asylum in Australia. Transcultural Psychiatry, 44(3), 359-393.

Steel, Z., Silove, D., Brooks, R., Momartin, S., Alzuhairi, B., & Susljik, I.N.A. (2006). Impact of immigration detention and temporary protection on the mental health of refugees. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 188(1), 58-64.

Talavera, V., Núñez-Mchiri, G.G., & Heyman, J. (2010). Deportation in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands: Anticipation, experience and memory. In N. De Genova & N. Peutz (Eds.), The deportation regime (pp. 166-195). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Taylor, P., Lopez, M.H., Passel, J.S., & Motel, S. (2011). Unauthorized immigrants: Length of residency, patterns of parenthood. Washington, D.C.: Pew Hispanic Center.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2015). Women on the Run. Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/5630f24c6.html.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (2014). Definitions of Food Security. Retrieved from http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.aspx#ranges.

Xu, Q., & Brabeck, K. (2012). Service utilization for Latino children in mixed-status families. Social Work Research, 36(3), 209-221.

Yoshikawa, H. (2011). Immigrants raising citizens: Undocumented parents and their children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Zayas, L.H., (2015). Forgotten citizens: Deportation, children, and the making of American exiles and orphans. New York: Oxford

Zayas, L.H., & Gulbas, L.E. (2016). D iscovery, rupture and exclusion: Processes of belonging for citizen-children of undocumented immigrants. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Author bios

Luis H. Zayas is dean of the school of social work at The University of Texas at Austin and holds the Robert Lee Sutherland chair in mental health and social policy. He is the author of "Forgotten Citizens: Deportation, Children, and the Making of American Exiles and Orphans" (Oxford, 2015).

Laurie Cook Heffron, PhD, LMSW, is an assistant professor in the school of behavioral and social sciences at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. She has interest and expertise in the areas of forced migration, domestic and sexual violence, and human trafficking, and her research explores the experiences of, and relationships between, violence against women and migration, particularly among Central American migrant women in the United States.

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Disrupting young lives: How detention and deportation affect US-born children of immigrants

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In the United States today, there are more than 9 million children whose parents are undocumented immigrants, the majority from Mexico and Latin America (Passel et al., 2014; Taylor, Lopez, Passel & Motel, 2011). Half of these children, or about 4.5 million, are U.S.

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Psychological effects on families and children

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Effects of organization

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Paragraph about detention facilities. (include info from interview with mom)

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Immigration Nation Show on Netflix

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The idea of "collaterals"

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Taking advantage of people abiding by the law (i.e arrsting people going to court, rehab, etc. )

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Overly aggressive raid methods

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How ICE abuses its power and shows a clear neglect for the people it claims it protects

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It's a story that began sixteen years ago...

With its passage in November 2002, the Homeland Security Act set into motion what would be the single-largest government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense. Opening its doors in March 2003, one of the component agencies in the new Department of Homeland Security was the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now known as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.

ICE was granted a unique combination of civil and criminal authorities to better protect national security and strengthen public safety in response to the deadly attacks perpetrated on 9/11.

Leveraging those authorities, ICE has become a powerful and sophisticated federal law enforcement agency.

Throughout 2017, ICE is looking back at its achievements and history through a series of stories, images and milestones, focusing on significant events and accomplishments, one year at a time, beginning with 2003.

September 11, 2001: 19 terrorists hijack commercial airliners and carry out massive attack on the United States

Terrorists take advantage of security weaknesses in our aviation system to kill nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children, including citizens of more than 90 countries. It is the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

November 2002: Homeland Security Act

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 is introduced in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The act is co-sponsored by 118 members of Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush Nov. 2002. The Homeland Security Act creates the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the new cabinet-level position of secretary of homeland security.

2003 - 2005

March 2003: U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially begins operations

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's mission is to prevent terrorism and enhance security; secure and manage U.S. borders; enforce and administer U.S. immigration laws; safeguard and secure cyberspace; and ensure resilience to disasters. March 1, 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is created through the integration of all or part of 22 different federal agencies and programs into a unified, integrated department. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security absorbed the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Customs Service and assumed their duties. In doing so, it divided the enforcement and services functions of the two legacy agencies and created three new agencies: Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Michael J. Garcia nominated as the assistant secretary for Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

In March 2003 President Bush appoints Michael J. Garcia as the assistant secretary of homeland security for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and he is unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Nov. 2003. Garcia served as Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service from Dec. 2002 to Feb. 2003 before it was integrated into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. From Aug. 2001 to Nov. 2002, he was the top federal enforcer of dual-use export control laws as the assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement.

Highlights

Detention and Removal Operations establishes the first eight Fugitive Operations Teams. They arrest 1,900 illegal aliens.

Five of the agency's "Most Wanted" criminal aliens are captured by Detention and Removal Operations officers in less than a month.

The first special agent training graduation is held, marking the graduation of the first class of special agents.

Office of Investigations launches Cornerstone, an outreach initiative to identify vulnerabilities in financial systems through which criminals launder their illicit proceeds.

Office of Investigations launches Operation Predator, an initiative to protect children from sexual predators by targeting child pornographers, child-sex tourists and people involved in all levels of child pornography.

A tip line is launched to collect tips in support of Operation Predator.

The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor secures a removal order against Juan Emilio Aboy, a known Cuban spy.

Highlights

The National Fugitive Operations Program adds 10 additional Fugitive Operations Teams to bring the number of teams to 18.

The Alternatives to Detention Program is established. This tool uses technology and case management to increase compliance with release conditions and facilitate alien compliance with final orders while allowing aliens to remain in their communities.

The Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force moves into the Cyber Crimes Center.

The General Counsel Electronic Management System, a web-based case management tool, is deployed in all 26 Office of the Principal Legal Advisor's Chief Counsel Offices.

Highlights

The agency becomes a board member and the primary U.S. law enforcement representative of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to combat online child sexual abuse.

The National Fugitive Operations Program adds 26 additional Fugitive Operations Teams to bring the total number of teams to 44. The teams arrest 7,959 illegal aliens.

Office of Investigations, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, begins conducting cross-border, financial investigation trainings around the world.

The Border Enforcement Security Task Force is created.

The case for removal of Kelbessa Negewo, who used fraud to obtain asylum, permanent residency and naturalization in the U.S., is secured through the work of Atlanta's Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.

The agency launches Operation Community Shield after a threat assessment by field offices identified Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) as one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the country.

2006 - 2008

January 2006: Julie L. Myers is appointed assistant secretary for Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

In Jan. 2006 President George Bush appointed Julie L. Myers as assistant secretary of homeland security for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Prior to her appointment, Myers served as special assistant to the president for presidential personnel. Before that, she served as assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Department of Commerce. In that role, Myers supervised a nationwide law enforcement agency that specialized in export control violation, both civil and criminal.

Highlights

Detention and Removal Operations initiates the Detention Enforcement and Processing of Offenders by Remote Technology Center in Chicago to serve as the designated centralized interview and processing site for convicted criminal aliens incarcerated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Fugitive Operations Support Center is established to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the National Fugitive Operations Program.

The Electronic Monitoring Program, an alternative to detention is initiated.

The 287(g) program, which allows a state or local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE to perform immigration law enforcement functions within their jurisdictions, is created.

The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor headquarters provides 40 hours of customs law training for all of its offices.

Operation Wagon Train, one of the largest worksite enforcement operations in U.S. history, is launched.

January 29, 2007: ICE removes Majid Al-Massari

ICE removed Majid Al-Massari, 35, a native and citizen of Saudi Arabia belonging to an undesignated terrorist organization. Al-Massari was ordered removed June 30, 2005, and was removed Jan. 29, 2007. At the time of his arrest, Al-Massari was a Seattle area computer security specialist who used his cyber skills to engage in terrorist activities. He purposely used his computer and communications skills to advance the terrorist goals of the Committee for Defense of Legitimate Rights and incite hatred against other groups of people. Al-Massari moderated an Internet chatroom for members of the group and posted Al Qaeda's weekly magazine at his site.

March: Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement renamed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security changes the name of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

June: Detention and Removal Operations assumes programmatic responsibility of the Criminal Alien Program from the Office of Investigations

Detention and Removal Operations assumes responsibility for the Criminal Alien Apprehension Program June 1. ICE aims to arrest and remove criminal aliens by securing a final order of removal before they are released from prison or jail. Identifying and processing incarcerated criminal aliens, prior to release from jails and prisons, decreases or eliminates the time spent in ICE custody, which reduces the overall cost to the federal government.

September: ICE implements the electronic travel document system, significantly reducing the amount of time required for partner countries to issue a travel document

Sept. 1, 2007 ICE launches their electronic travel document system, a system used to review travel document requests and issue travel documents electronically.

As of Oct. 1, 2007, ICE's fugitive case backlog consisted of less than 595,000 fugitive aliens, which was approximately 38,000 fewer fugitives than the population recorded Oct. 1, 2006.

ICE established the first Fugitive Operations Teams in 2003 to expand the agency's efforts to locate, arrest and remove fugitives from the United States.

December: Value of counterfeit or pirated merchandize seizures increases by more than 20% compared to 2006 totals

Although the total number of seizures dropped from 14,675 in 2006 to 13,657 in 2007, the total value of those seizures increased from $155,369,236 to $196,754,377.

July: National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center opens in Virginia

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-led Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center co-locates, for the first time, the regulators and law enforcement agencies that work to protect public safety and national security by stopping the importation of counterfeit, substandard and tainted products and the theft of intellectual property. The IPR Center's early partners include U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Commerce, Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

November: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement opens new headquarters

Employees and guests celebrate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's move to a new headquarters building, Potomac Center North, in southwest Washington, D.C. This new building gives the growing agency the space and resources it needs to fulfill its expanding mission.

Highlights

The Criminal Alien Program initiates the Violent Criminal Alien Section to enforce violations of criminal immigration law found through the enforcement activities of Detention and Removal Operations.

Secure Communities, an initiative to modernize the process used in identification and removal begins planning its first activations.

ICE signs a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam, allowing for the repatriation of Vietnamese citizens who entered the United States on or after July 12, 1995.

The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor facilitates the creation of the ICE Suspension and Debarment Program.

An ICE investigation leads to the conviction of Chuckie Taylor, an American citizen and the son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who was charged with five counts of torture, conspiracy to torture and two federal firearm offenses for his role in the torture and murder of several victims in Liberia during his father's regime.

ICE's Operation Devil Horns leads to the indictment of twenty-two individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area on federal racketeering and other charges arising from their participation in the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.

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With its passage in November 2002, the Homeland Security Act set into motion what would be the single-largest government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense. Opening its doors in March 2003, one of the component agencies in the new Department of Homeland Security was the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now known as U.S.

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when, how, and why it changed
(transition from background to how organization behaves now)

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President Donald Trump has threatened nationwide mass raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While these mass raids have yet to happen, the specter of sweeping immigration raids have stoked fear among immigrants and mobilized immigrant rights advocates across the country.

Threats of mass raids in communities at large are representative of how the Trump administration has shifted the focus of immigration enforcement since the Obama administration, making changes that could have significant implications for U.S. democracy and the rule of law.

I investigated patterns of interior enforcement under the Trump administration in a report published in July with the American Immigration Council's Guillermo Cantor and the University of Southern California's Reed Humphrey.

Elimination of enforcement priorities

President Obama was criticized by some in the immigrant rights community as the "deporter-in-chief", given the high number of removals during his administration relative to preceding administrations.

However, the Obama administration's approach to immigration enforcement was organized by a clear, hierarchical set of priorities.

Enforcement focused on people who posed a threat to national security, as well as those immigrants with serious criminal convictions and who recently crossed the border. Unauthorized immigrants who did not fall within these categories were not a priority for enforcement action.

President Trump overturned these enforcement priorities through executive order during his first week in office.

The Trump administration's stated policy is to target virtually any unauthorized immigrant - regardless of their length of residence in the U.S. or their social, economic and family ties to the U.S.

An increase in encounters, arrests and removals

Through a public records request of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, we obtained data on 1,199,026 ICE encounters, 381,370 arrests and 650,944 removals that occurred between January 2016 and September 2018.

Given the possible seasonal fluctuations, we looked at the same months in consecutive years between 2016 and 2018. We found a consistent increase in the number of ICE encounters - interviews, screenings and determinations of individuals' citizenship, nationality and lawful presence.

Between 2016 and 2017, there was a significant uptick in the monthly number of arrests. This leveled out and remained relatively stable in 2018.

The number of removals in 2017 was lower than in 2016 for most months. But this changed in 2018, which had a consistently higher number of removals than in 2016 and 2017.

Who is subject to enforcement?

Our report revealed two key changes in the population of people subject to enforcement in the interior of the country.

A defining characteristic of U.S. citizenship is its guarantee that one cannot be deported from the country. Yet our findings in our immigration enforcement study suggest that some U.S. citizens may be more vulnerable than others to violations of this basic legal guarantee.

During the last year of the Obama administration, ICE interviewed and screened 5,940 U.S. citizens about their legal right to stay in the country. In the first year after President Trump took office, 27,540 U.S. citizens were subject to this process.

This sharp increase in the number of U.S. citizens encountered by ICE raises important questions about whether certain U.S. citizens who may "appear deportable" - likely people of color - have become increasingly vulnerable to enforcement actions.

What's more, we found that proportionally, ICE encountered and arrested more women during the Trump administration than it did during the last year of the Obama administration.

During the last part of the Obama administration, about 11.67% of those encountered by ICE were women, compared to more than 13% in the first part of the Trump administration. Underlying these percentages are thousands of female immigrants: 46,759 (Obama) versus 103,910 (Trump).

Likewise, about 6.86% of those arrested in the last part of the Obama administration were women, compared to 8.22% in the first part of the Trump administration.

Many of these women subject to enforcement actions are likely to be mothers and primary caregivers to children. This means that family separation is a humanitarian problem not only at the U.S.-Mexico border, but also inside the U.S.

Costs of enforcement

These changes in enforcement patterns likely come at a high cost to U.S. communities.

Studies have documented not only the enormous fiscal costs of maintaining the current enforcement system - the annual budget for ICE increased from US$6 billion to $7.6 billion between 2009 and 2019 - but also the vast social and economic costs of mass deportations to U.S. society.

According to one estimate, mass deportation would reduce U.S. GDP by $4.7 trillion over 10 years. U.S. citizen children whose parents have been deported experience numerous emotional and behavioral challenges. Research indicates that raids and deportations make community members more fearful and mistrustful of public institutions, curtailing their civic engagement and crime reporting behavior.

There is also the difficult-to-measure, but critically important, cost to democracy that policymakers and the public have yet to fully appreciate. My studies show that enforcement actions that are perceived by immigrants to be arbitrary, discriminatory or unjust breed governmental distrust and undercut their confidence in the legitimacy of the law and legal authorities.

Whether and to what extent mass raids will take place in the coming weeks remain to be seen, but I think that their implications for U.S. democracy and the rule of law could be far-reaching.

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How ICE enforcement has changed under the Trump administration

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President Donald Trump has threatened nationwide mass raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While these mass raids have yet to happen, the specter of sweeping immigration raids have stoked fear among immigrants and mobilized immigrant rights advocates across the country.

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how it performed during first years of organization

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main reason for establishment

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Investigation into I.C.E. organization methods and consequences of them