Running head: Decrease Deportation Rates In Our Country

Decrease Deportation Rates In Our Country

Abraham Viveros

Arizona State University

Decrease Deportation Rates In Our Country

Abstract

This paper was written to persuade the audience that deportation rates in the U.S. should

decrease. Deportation rates have grown in huge numbers and have only caused more harm than good.

This paper discusses why immigrant deportations have negative effects on families.

Keywords:​ Deportation
Decrease Deportation Rates In Our Country

Decrease Deportation Rates In Our Country

The government should change their laws in order to decrease immigrant deportation rates.

“Between1995 and 2008, deportations (with orders of removal) skyrocketed from 50,924 to
358,886, representing over a six hundred percent increase in just thirteen years. (Hagan, J.,2010) This is a
statistic that proves how deportations have become a huge part of our society. More and more families
have been affected because of laws that allow the government to throw people out of the country, even if
no harm is being done.

The government should change their laws in order to decrease immigrant deportation rates. As
mentioned above, immigrant deportation rates have only gone up as time has passed. Deportations not
only affect the deportees, but also their families. Various amounts of studies have been conducted on the
issue and they all prove that deporting an immigrant can have harmful effects on their children and
spouses, not only emotionally but mentally.

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).
The last thing that children want is to have their parents taken away from them. Since they know
of their parents’ legal status, they know that they are always in danger of having them deported.
This causes them to feel threatened and can also lead to a fear of authority.

I​n 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).
San Luis, Arizona is a border town, which means that most of the population are Mexican
Americans, just like I am. Coming from a place so close to the border, I have been witness to
children living in poverty because their parents were deported. They would live in houses that
were not in good shape, they would be made fun of at school because of the clothes they had to
wear, etc. This all adds up in a child’s life and can be too much for them to handle.

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
Undocumented parents do not feel comfortable doing activities that legal citizens do. They do not
enroll their kids in school to prevent too much exposure. They are also afraid that the schools might look
into their legal status and try to inform the government about their situation, even if their children are
legal citizens.
Decrease Deportation Rates In Our Country

Instead of focusing on deporting immigrants, the government should focus on helping improve
border security. The border should be reinforced in order to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in
from other countries.
While having the borders reinforced could lead to a safer country, it is not a solution to the
problem affecting families of those who are deported. For this reason, the government should find ways to
change their laws to decrease deportation rates.

Decreasing deportation rates will make the nation a better place for families and will help prevent
mental and emotional issues in children.
Decrease Deportation Rates In Our Country

References

Hagan, J., Castro, B., Rodriguez, N. (2010). ​The Effects Of U.S. Deportation Policies On Immigrant
Families And Communities: Cross Border Perspectives​. Retrieved
from:​https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/nclr88&div=54&g_sent=1&casa_token=&c
ollection=journals

Zayas, H., Cook, L. (2016, November). ​Disrupting Young Lives: How Detention and Deportation Affect
US-born children Of Immigrants. ​Retrieved from:
https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2016/11/detention-deportation