Cruz 1

Melissa Cruz

Professor Batty

English 28

05 December 2018

The American Dream?: The Impact of Deportations

Approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants are living in the United States

today. Many of them are our friends, neighbors, babysitters, etc. Immigration is the movement of

people into a certain country where they do not possess citizenship. The United States began to

see major waves of immigration in the 1700s. In addition, the United States experienced the

“Great Wave” from 1900 to 1920. Nearly 24 million immigrants arrived to the United States

during the “Great Wave.” There are many reasons people immigrate to the United States. Some

of those reasons are the search for more career or work opportunities, escaping from danger , or

to reunite with family members. Although many believe undocumented immigrants should be

deported to ensure the safety of the United States, deportation can cause long-lasting

implications on families such as their mental health.

​ armen, a housekeeper, talks to

In the prologue of Sonia Nazario’s ​Enrique’s Journey, C

Nazario about the children she had to leave behind in Guatemala. Carmen explains that she left

her children out of love. Her husband had left her for another woman, and she did not earn

enough to feed her four children. Carmen left for the United States hoping to provide her

children with more opportunities. However, Carmen continues to explain she constantly feels the

distance that she has with her children. She misses important milestones in the lives of her
 Cruz 2

children. The following year, Carmen’s son arrived unannounced. Carmen’s son had talked to

Nazario about the dangerous journey he went through, in order to find his mother. Nazario

emphasizes, “He’d told me about the gangsters who rule the train tops, the bandits along the

tracks, the Mexican police who patrol the train stations and rape and rob, about the dangers of

losing a leg getting onto and off moving trains.” (Nazario 15) In other words, Carmen’s son went

through an extremely dangerous journey to reunite with his mother because he couldn’t handle

their separation any longer. This book relates a lot to deportation because it illustrates how

destructive separating families can be. As well as showing why people immigrate to another

country in the first place.

The legal status of a family member is seen as a key part of a child’s mental health

(Brabeck, and Sibley 1155). During the past decade, about 2 million people were removed from

the United States. When it’s time to debate on immigration and enforce policies, children are so

often ignored. The constant worry children have of their parents being deported will result in

negative effects on their mental health (Zayas, Gaxiola, Yoon, and Rey 3213). Visualize yourself

shaking, on the verge of tears, feeling as if your heart was about to come out of your chest

because you heard a knock at five in the morning and thought someone had come to take your

family away from you. I assume millions of kids have gone through that, including myself. Many

children of undocumented immigrants can miss out on important opportunities due to the fear of

their parents being deported. For instance, it is less likely for children to be enrolled in public

school programs if they are children of undocumented immigrants (Zayas, Gaxiola, Yoon, and

Rey 3214). In addition, these children don’t mentally develop as much as a child with citizen

parents because of the constant dread of their parents possibly being deported. In ​Immigrant
 Cruz 3

Parent Legal Status, Parent-Child Relationships, and Child Social Emotional Wellbeing: A

Middle Childhood Perspective, ​Kalina Brabeck conducted a study that used the Behavioral and

Emotional Screening System to see the impact a parents’ legal status has on the mental health of

their children. When examining the BESS scores, it was shown that children of undocumented

parents had much higher levels of child-reported anxiety and lower levels of hyperactivity

(Brabeck, and Sibley 1161). Similarly, child-and parent-reported anxiety as well as hyperactivity

were notably correlated.

Nevertheless, some people don’t support undocumented immigrants or their children. A

big reason people want to limit immigration and enforce immigration laws is public safety. Many

Americans associate higher crime rates with undocumented immigrants. In the article “Crimes

by Illegal Aliens, Not Legal Immigrants, are the Real Problems,” Hans A. von Spakovsky speaks

about the criminal histories of undocumented immigrants who entered the country illegally.

Spakovsky emphasizes, “The findings in the second report are even more disturbing. It reviewed

the criminal histories of 55,322 aliens in federal or state prisons and local jails who “entered the

country illegally.” Those illegal aliens were arrested 459,614 times, an average of 8.3 arrests per

illegal alien, and committed almost 700,000 criminal offenses, an average of roughly 12.7

offenses per illegal alien” (Spakovsky). Spakovsky is attempting to demonstrate how many

crimes are committed by undocumented immigrants and why we should fear them. Despite

Spakovsky’s reports, other studies have shown the complete opposite. It has been revealed by

various academic studies that illegal immigration doesn’t increase the frequency of crime, drug,

or alcohol problems (Burnett). For one study, Michael Light who is a criminologist at the

University of Wisconsin, Madison, examined whether or not illegal immigration over the past
 Cruz 4

three decades has caused an increase in violent crimes. ​"Increased undocumented immigration

since 1990 has not increased violent crime over that same time period," Light said in a phone

interview” (Burnett) Despite popular belief, Light concluded that illegal immigration has not

caused an increase in violent crimes. In another study, the libertarian Cato Institute evaluated

criminality within illegal immigrants from Texas (Burnett). Surprisingly, Cato discovered that

rates for murder, sexual assault, and larceny were higher for native-born Americans. “Cato found

that in 2015, criminal conviction and arrest rates in Texas for undocumented immigrants were

lower than those of native-born Americans for murder, sexual assault and larceny” (Burnett). In

short, many people believe illegal immigrants are the ones that commit these violent crimes,

when in reality it’s the other way around.

At the end of the day, deportation will always cause serious implications on families

including their mental health. Millions of children with undocumented parents have a higher risk

of multiple emotional and behavioral problems. Despite many arguing that illegal immigrants are

a threat to the safety of our country, countless studies have proven otherwise.Though I

understand where this fear or worry is coming from, I think many people have their priorities and

facts wrong. America’s future consists of children of undocumented immigrants. If we want to

ensure the success and safety of our country, maybe we should start with its future.
 Cruz 5

Works Cited

Brabeck, Kalina M., and Erin Sibley. "Immigrant Parent Legal Status, Parent-Child

Relationships, and Child Social Emotional Wellbeing: A Middle Childhood Perspective."

Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 25, no. 4, 2016, pp. 1155-1167. ProQuest,

https://library.lavc.edu:2236/docview/1771236221?accountid=40027,

doi:http://library.lavc.edu:2138/10.1007/s10826-015-0314-4.​.

Burnett, John. “Illegal Immigration Does Not Increase Violent Crime, 4 Studies Show.” National

Public Radio, 2 May 2018,

www.npr.org/2018/05/02/607652253/studies-say-illegal-immigration-does-not-increase-v

iolent-crime.

Nazario, Sonia. “Prologue.” ​Enrique's Journey,​ Penguin Random House LLC., 2006, p. XXVI​.

von Spakovsky, Hans A. “Crimes by Illegal Aliens, Not Legal Immigrants, Are the Real

Problem.” The Heritage Foundation, 4 June 2017,

www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/crimes-illegal-aliens-not-legal-immigrants-a

re-the-real-problem.

Zayas, Luis H., et al. "The Distress of Citizen-Children with Detained and Deported Parents."

Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 24, no. 11, 2015, pp. 3213-3223. ProQuest,

https://library.lavc.edu:2236/docview/1720395599?accountid=40027,

doi:http://library.lavc.edu:2138/10.1007/s10826-015-0124-8.