SB 1070’s Impact on Kids: Broken Families and America’s Soul

By Michelle Chen May 03, 2010

Children are the hidden casualties of America’s war on immigrants, and the passage of Arizona’s new racial profiling legislation could open up countless opportunities for local law enforcement to break up families by putting undocumented parents on the fast-track to deportation. A report from the D.C.-based advocacy group First Focus released in April outlines the possible consequences for children who wind up alone after their immigrant parents are apprehended. According to the organization’s estimates, "over 5 million children in the United States with at least one undocumented parent are at risk of unnecessarily entering the child welfare system when a parent is detained or deported." (Of all the children with at least one undocumented parent, a large majority are citizens by birth.)

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