Meghan Lee INED 7782 Dr. Kuhel Fall 2014

1

Impact of Deportation on ELL Students

Policy Brief

Education policymakers must act quickly to address the needs of our students that

are currently being negatively affected by parental arrests, detentions in remote holding

facilities, and deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Children

should not pay the price for their parents’ decision to enter the country illegally. The

Urban Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization,

published a report in 2010 titled, “Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of

Immigration Enforcement” that conducted a wide-scale research study on the affects of

arrest, detention, and deportation on the children of illegal immigrants.

The Urban Institute research report examined a total of “190 children in 85

families in six locations across the country” (2010, p. vii). While this sample is quite

diverse, the majority of children affected by the parental deportation enforcement are

from Spanish-speaking families with one or two parents that entered the country illegally.

Many of the arrests were done in large-scale worksite arrests; however, some children

were frightened by heavy-handed ICE raids within their homes, and saw their mothers

and/or fathers hauled away in handcuffs. On the surface this may seem similar to the

experiences of children whose parents have gotten into trouble with the law and sent to

state or federal prison; however, family members do not have the same ease of navigating

ICE’s deportation process. ICE is completely separate from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Human Rights Watch concluded detainees are transferred often to remote locations

making it difficult for families to visit their detained loved one (2009).

Meghan Lee INED 7782 Dr. Kuhel Fall 2014

2

Painful Separation

Some children have lost their mother and/or father to immigration authorities

while others are fortunate to keep one parent in the home wearing an monitoring anklet

from ICE. Often the children are separated from one parent for a long time unless the

whole family returns to the parents’ country of origin. Children not only feel separated

from their parent(s), but they fear the loss of their home, belongings, friends, and family.

Housing Instability & Food Shortage

When the breadwinner is arrested and held in a detention facility, it drastically

lowers the household budget. Many families are insecure in both housing and food during

this time and must utilize all available community resources to have a safe place to sleep

with enough food to fuel their energy levels and health. Families often move from place

to place simply out of necessity as they stay with one friend or family member in

succession while they await final verdicts (2010, p. ix).

Behavioral Changes in Children

There is no doubt that watching a parent or both parents be arrested in an ICE raid

must be a traumatic experience for children. As a result, these children often experience

changes in behavior due to stress, anxiety, depression, etc. Grades in school often slipped

in the short-term, but rallied long-term through the helpful structure/schedule of school

and support of attentive faculty members and administrators. School stakeholders must

work together to address the changing needs of students affected by deportation.

Analysis of The Urban Institute’s Research Report

Meghan Lee INED 7782 Dr. Kuhel Fall 2014

3

After perusing other research articles and reports on deportation’s effects on

children, I conclude that The Urban Institute has published a helpful report on this key

issue. Their study’s findings coincide with the results of Joanna Dreby’s research article

titled, The Burden of Deportation on Children in Mexican Immigrant Families (2013).

Dreby concluded that children in Mexican immigrant families are most negatively

affected by the harsh deportation proceedings and live in fear that their own families will

endure the same hardships regardless of legal status (2013, p. 833). Children are unable

to fully understand the nuances of immigration and only know that many adults and

parents of their friends are disappearing in handcuffs during the night or day to be held in

a distant prison and deported to the country they had fled in hopes of better life here.

Recommendations

Education policymakers should collaborate with immigration reform and

advocacy groups to address the needs of students impacted by deportation within their

communities. At the school level, families need a place they can go for information about

resources available in the area in the event that they need housing, food bank sources,

free legal advice, and counseling opportunities for the children or family members. The

children in the Urban Institute’s report were all U.S. citizens and as such, they should

have the right to appeal to immigration authorities on behalf on their parents through the

assistance of a legal advocate if their parent is faced with deportation. Most parents had

only minor offenses on their record and posed no threat to the safety of the community.

Education policymakers must become better advocates for children affected by

deportation by creating a central location for family-focused support in our schools.

Meghan Lee INED 7782 Dr. Kuhel Fall 2014

4

References

Chaudry, A., Capps, R., Pedroza, J., Castaneda, R. M., Santos, R., & Scott, M. (2010,

February 2). Facing Our Future. : Children in the Aftermath of Immigration

Enforcement. Retrieved October 1, 2014 from web.

Dreby, J. (2012). The Burden of Deportation on Children in Mexican Immigrant

Families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74, 829-845.

Human Rights Watch. (2009, December 2). Locked Up Far Away: The Transfer of

Immigrants to Remote Detention Centers in the United States.

Retrieved October 1, 2014 from web.