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| TomSpot Weebly |
Only propaganda, irrational reaction
Editing by Carolyn Bennett
In fiscal year 2011, the United States deported a
record-breaking 397,000 people and detained nearly that many. According to federal
data acquired by the Applied Research Center (ARC) through a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request, a growing number of deportees are parents. In
the first six months of 2011, the federal government removed more than 46,000
mothers and fathers of U.S.-citizen children.
In its 2011 investigation, the Applied Research Center found
At least
5,100 children currently living in U.S. foster care are prevented from
uniting with their detained or deported parents.
If nothing changes, 15,000 more children [in the United
States] may face a similar fate in the next 5 years.
This is a growing national problem not confined to [U.S.]
border jurisdictions or states but involve at least 22 [U.S.] states.
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| Applied Research Center |
Families are more likely to be separated where local police
aggressively participate in immigration enforcement.
Immigrant victims of domestic violence are at particular risk
of losing their children.
ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention
obstructs participation in Child Protective Services’ plans for family unity.
Most child welfare departments lack policies in their systems to
keep families united when parents who are detained or deported.
ARC recommended
Federal, state and local governments create explicit
policies to protect families from separation.
Polices should
stop the clock on the child welfare process and the immigration enforcement
process to ensure that families can stay together and allow parents to make the
best decisions for the care and custody of their children.
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| Latinalista |
In the course of ARC’s investigation, researchers found, according to author and principal
investigator Seth Wessler, repeated instances of families being
excluded from “decision-making [concerning] the care and custody of their
children. As a result, children of detained and deported parents are likely to
remain in foster care when they could be with their own family.”
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| Colorlines |
It is unacceptable, un-American, and a clear sign that we need to revisit our immigration policies.”
Another view
A British writer observing the raging fear, immigrant
bashing, and continuing irrationality surrounding this issue took a fundamentally different [less begging and pleading] approach to thinking about difference in general, and immigration in particular.
Though Tom Randall was writing about Britain, his words apply equally to the
United States. He said the consistent bombardment of propaganda has convinced
us “that immigration is getting out of control [and] as a result … we are
losing our national identity by the flooding of foreigners into our country
[but] … the following puts to rest the complete lies that are being fed to everyday Britons: “There is NO Immigration Problem.” It is in Britain’s best interest to not put a stop to immigration. Our country would not be able to survive without it.
We need to aim for the title of
citizens of a continent, or of the world, where a global society has molded
together from advances in travel technology and the freedom to live anywhere on
our planet.
Sources and notes
“Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration
Enforcement and the Child Welfare System, http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies
One of the first to report on the Obama administration’s
unprecedented build-up of immigration enforcement, Seth Freed Wessler is a
senior research associate at the Applied Research Center and an investigative
reporter for Colorlines.com covering immigration, criminal justice, economic
and workplace inequality and the safety-net.
Wessler has been awarded the Hillman prize for journalism in
the service of the common good specifically for his report on thousands of
U.S.-born children separated from detained or deported immigrant parents.
Exposé on Immigrant Children among Recipients of Hillman
Journalism Prize,” May 2, 2012,
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/2/headlines#5211
Seth Freed Wessler
Seth Freed Wessler is a senior research associate at the
Applied Research Center and an investigative reporter for Colorlines.com
covering immigration, criminal justice, economic and workplace inequality and
the safety-net.
Wessler is author of numerous reports and investigations
including ‘Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration
Enforcement and the Child Welfare System,’ a groundbreaking study that provides
the first national estimates on the number of children in foster care whose
parents were detained or deported. He also authored ‘Race and Recession: How
Inequality Rigged the Economy and How to Change the Rules,’ as well as reports
on organizing strategies, transportation equity and workplace discrimination.
Seth’s reporting and research has taken him across North
America, and he was one of the first to report on the Obama administration’s
unprecedented build-up of immigration enforcement.
ICE
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the “U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United
States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for identifying,
investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the [United States’]
border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security. The largest
components within ICE are Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and
Enforcement and Removal Operations, (ERO)” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement]
THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES SHATTERED
The Applied Research Center’s ‘Shattered Families’ (a report
released November 2, 2011, New York) offers groundbreaking national research on
the perilous intersection of immigration enforcement and the child welfare
system. Historic levels of detention and deportation, combined with a clear
lack of child welfare policies are resulting in the separation of thousands of
families across the United States. These families face formidable barriers to
reunification, and in many cases will be permanently separated. Before this
report, there had been no national data available on the numbers of children directly
affected by the intersection of immigration enforcement and child welfare
systems. http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies/
ARC’s “Shattered Families” provides evidence, for the first
time, on the scale and scope of this growing national problem, consequences not
confined to border jurisdictions or states.
“Shattered Families”
analyzes these problems, identifies key barriers, and presents policy
recommendations for Department of Homeland Security, various levels of
legislature, state child welfare departments, and juvenile dependency courts on
how we can better protect families from separation and reunify families in a
timely way. Information on events available at http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies/
Applied Research Center (ARC
The Applied Research Center (ARC) is a 30-year-old racial
justice think tank that uses media, research and activism to promote solutions.
ARC’s mission is to popularize racial justice and prepare people to achieve it.
By telling the stories of everyday people, ARC is a voice for unity and
fairness in the structures that affect our lives. ARC also serves as the
publisher of Colorlines.com; www.arc.org.
http://www.arc.org/content/view/2297/180/
http://www.arc.org/content/blogsection/4/200/
Images
TomSpot March 30, 2012,
“There is NO Immigration Problem,”
http://tomspot.weebly.com/there-is-no-immigration-problem.html
“We are consistently bombarded by propaganda, convincing us
that immigration is getting out of control in Britain. As a result, or so we
are told, we are losing our national identity by the flooding of foreigners
into our country. There have been many calls from major and minor political
parties to create tougher immigration barriers, with some going as far to say
as having an immigration freeze for five years. The following is finally going
to put a rest to the complete lies that are being fed to the everyday Briton;
there is no immigration problem.…
“It is in Britain’s best interest to not put a stop to immigration, as our country would not be able
to survive without it. In a globalizing age, where the world has become smaller
and labour is able to travel more freely, there is no room for nationalism. It
is a concept which we, as a country, are stupidly holding on to, when it is
holding our whole economy and integration into the world back. Ethnic mixing
should be encouraged, slowly wiping out any form of nationalism. We should no
longer claim to be citizens of a country. Rather we need to aim for the title
of citizens of a continent, or of the world, where a global society has molded
together from the advances in travel technology and the freedom to live
anywhere on our planet.”
No human being is illegal, http://colorlines.com/droptheiword/resources/en/about.html
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal
law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling
vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and
infrastructure security. The largest components within ICE are Homeland
Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO).
“In the past two years, there has been an irrational
vengeance by some state legislators to drive undocumented immigrants out of
their states. It didn’t matter that these migrants were the main workers in
industries that had little appeal to the average American worker, regardless of
salary increase, or that these migrants were the only ones keeping Small Towns
USA still on the map.
“It didn’t matter that these same migrants were paying taxes
every time they bought food, gas, clothes, furniture, etc. It didn’t matter.
“Rather, what this shows is that the narrow minded fear that
motivated these punitive actions in states like Oklahoma, Arizona and the rest
actually do nothing to make those states safer, their economies stronger or
their voices heard in the one legislature where it does count to have as many
representatives as possible …”.
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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