The Effects of the Immigration Justice System Essay Example for Free

The Effects of the Immigration Justice System Essay Illegal Immigration in America is at an all time high, but what the government is failing to see is the after affects this has on family and children of illegal immigrants. After September 2011 government has started enforcing immigration laws in staggering numbers, when in fact some of these illegal immigrants have been in this country for many years living a productive life with their families. After years of immigration laws being looked over now everyone in the illegal immigrants’ life is affected due to stiffer immigration laws. Immigration is a topic on a lot of people’s minds these days. Many illegal immigrants are being pulled over due to racial profiling. According to Hughes (2012), â€Å"Nearly half of the suspected illegal immigrants picked up for deportation under Frederick County’s enforcement program last year were arrested for a traffic violation or driving without a license, according to county records. † Subsequently they are deported leaving their families behind here in America to make a tough decision as to stay or go be with family. These families most of the time are mixed citizenship families as to where one or both parents are illegal to this country. As for the children they too sometimes are of mixed citizenship. Most people say â€Å"send them back they broke the law† but why should the children have to pay for their parents mistakes. The government and the justice system need to come up with an immigration reform that is fair to all but still penalize them for breaking the law. If you have a criminal history you should be deported but if the biggest crime you have committed is driving without a license you should not be deported. Not only does the Immigration justice system affect the illegal immigrant it also affect the families and children of the illegal immigrant. â€Å"U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have adopted common sense policies that ensure our immigration laws are enforced in a way that best enhances public safety, border security and the integrity of the immigration system (ICE, 2012). † This is how the immigration system is run since September 2011. Before this illegal immigrants who lived in this country only feared deportation if they ommitted a major crime. For that reason most whom where here illegally lived a very productive life without committing any crimes. They started families here in America if they did not already have a family. â€Å"As part of this approach, ICE has adopted clear priorities that call for the agencys enforcement resources to be focused on the identification and removals of those that have broken criminal laws, recently crossed our border, repeatedly violated immigration law or are fugitives from immigration court (ICE, 2012). With this being said does it make you wonder, what happens to the families and children that are also entangled in the Immigration justice system web? The Immigration justice system is breaking up families everyday in America. Morel (2012, p. 1) states, â€Å"There are 4. 5 million U. S. citizen children who have an undocumented parent, according to First Focus, a national children and families advocate group. † So what happens to these children when their parent or parents are deported? Well the answer is a lot of these children are now orphaned in this country and are put into the foster care system. Some are at an age where they will not get to be adopted into a home; they will live for years going from foster home to foster home. As for the children who still has a parent here in America they will be faced with many difficulties. Their parent that was deported was more than likely the â€Å"bread winner† of the family so now the family has to struggle just to survive. The family has to decide whether to stay in their home country or to pack up and move to an unknown foreign country were the children possibly will not even speak the language. The deleterious impact of these public efforts has been most profound on immigrant children, many of whom may be U. S. citizens living with undocumented families. † (Androff et al. , 2011) Therefore the children are affected in every way from physical to mental due to the stress a child is put under at the time of deportation. May the child be a citizen or not of this country they did not chose to live this life and go through the suffering many are enduring. Some people say that it is the illegal immigrant who has been selfish and caused these problems for their children by entering the country illegally. As a result the government should find a fair way to reform immigration for the productive illegal immigrants. Immigration reform has been a topic for several years and still there is no reform. According to an article by Kim, (2012) â€Å"One state lawmaker wants to give illegal immigrants permission to work legally in the country if they dont have a criminal background. † If the illegal immigrant has lived in this country for a number of years without any major crime committed and they have a family, they should be penalize or fined not deported. Illegal immigrants who commit crimes other than simple driving violation should not be granted amnesty. There has to be reform in order to keep these families together or American citizen kids from being moved to an unknown country. This country needs some kind of immigration reform to keep children from suffering. With all this information you can clearly see the negative affects the immigration justice system is having on the family and children of illegal immigrants. Fathers and mothers are being ripped away from their children. When in all reality all they want is to give their children a better life and a fighting chance that they would not have in their own country. America is known as â€Å"the land of dreams and opportunity† and this is what most illegal immigrants want is an opportunity to fulfill their dreams in this country with their family. Therefore the government of our country should find away to reform immigration laws so the family and children of illegal immigrants are not affected in such a negative way.