Last November, the Applied Research Center (ARC) produced a report revealing the devastating impact deportations have on families. Titled Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System, ARC’s report exposed another very serious problem with U.S. immigration policy. Our post on the report is here, but the story continues to reverberate. This week, ARC’s president and executive director Rinku Sen (also the publisher of Colorlines) appeared on ABC’s Nightline to discuss the real world impact of the deportation policy. From Colorlines:
On Wednesday night Colorlines.com’s publisher Rinku Sen appeared on ABC’s “Nightline” to provide context on a story about a young child who was put up for adoption because his biological mother is undocumented. Sen cited our “Shattered Families” investigation, which found an estimated 5,000 U.S citizen children lingering in foster care due to the detainment or deportation of their parents.
In 2008, Circuit Court Judge David C. Dally decided Encarnacion Romero of Guatemala had abandoned her child when she was caught in an immigration raid and had little to offer to her son.
“Illegally smuggling herself into the country is not a lifestyle that can provide any stability for the child,” Judge Dally said.
“We’re creating a collateral consequence in which thousands of children are ripped away from their families with no real process for being reunited,” Sen said on “Nightline.”
Watch here: