I found this article on NYTimes.com and thought it brought up several interesting issues. I was quite surprised that this little girl's reentry back into the United States, where she is a legal citizen, became such a big problem. I can't help but think that the resources that were used to handle the situation of this little girl could have been used elsewhere. Is a 4-year-old really that much of a threat to national security? And how did she get deported if she is a U.S. citizen?
There are also other issues at play here, besides the mistake of sending her to Guatemala unnecessarily. If her parents are known to be illegal immigrants, why were they not deported to Guatemala? How was the little girl identified as an "illegal?" These questions point to the larger problems surrounding familial citizenship rights. This little girl was separated from her parents for a relatively short amount of time, and the issue has, for now, been resolved. But what happens to children whose parents are deported permanently? Do they have the right to remain in the United States? Do parents who are deported lose the right to care for their U.S. citizen children? What are your thoughts?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
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I think that our system is a mess that could use a lot of fixing. Our current system creates more of the problems that we are upset about. If you deport the parents of a child who is a citizen, the money to raise that child then has to come from welfare and the money to address the trauma that child will go through has to come from welfare. Wouldn't it be cheaper just to keep the parents here? There is a lot of work that needs doing to make things better than they are.
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