America is one of the few countries that gives citizenship by birthright, a noble and intelligent philosophy. We are a nation of immigrants, and even if the parents broke the law to come here, we also believe (or at least pay lip service to) that the sins of the father shall not be delivered unto the child. Children have no choice in their lot, and when cared for, become assets to the community. What do you do when the parent is illegal? Recent events in New Bedford again underscore that the issue of illegal immigration is a complex one in a free society.
Judge Richard G. Stearns also instructed the state Department of Social Services and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to work together to solve the problem of detainees who are mothers or primary caregivers and have been separated from their children. He ordered those agencies to give him a progress report by Tuesday.
They are the hidden side of the government’s stepped-up efforts to track down and deport illegal immigrants: Toddlers stranded at day care centers or handed over to ill-equipped relatives. Siblings suddenly left in charge of younger brothers and sisters.
When illegal-immigrant parents are swept up in raids on homes and workplaces, the children are sometimes left behind _ a complication that underscores the difficulty in enforcing immigration laws against people who have put down roots and begun raising families in the U.S.
As the child of a legal immigrant, I recognize the need to screen and properly assimilate newcomers and not simply allow anyone in to do as they please. However, we should think about the people impacted by our politically-motivated actions. I say politically motivated because even though I agree that we have an illegal immigrant problem, who is really threatening our jobs, the guy who will mow lawns and work as a day laborer or the corporation that relocates your factory overseas?
(Thanks to Mike Stefani for the tip.)
UPDATE:
Under pressure, Bush says he wants immigration deal
By having children they may not be in a position to take care of, it’s pretty easy to see where the blame belongs: The parents.
To say this is society’s fault since society is demanding that the law is upheld is a joke. This is merely society’s problem to deal with… and avoiding the root cause of the problem, while very left-wing of you, is not the solution.
1,
Where do I say it is society’s fault? I agree that this is an issue we must address. Does your comment mean that you condemn the children for their parent’s poor judgement?
I rob a bank….
I steal a car….
I assualt my neighbor….
.kids or no kids, I go to jail.
Why is this different?
3,
Child services at least makes sure your kids are taken care of.
Child services at least makes sure your kids are taken care of.
Hmmm….
I thought that was the responsibility of the parents. Give the parents the option. Leave with the kids or without the kids but leave.
#4. Absolutely correct.
And guess what, #1-3, coming to this country illegally is not like robbing a bank or assaulting your neighbor, it is, in essence, a crime against the bureaucracy. Line-jumping without the right paperwork. A crime, yes, but not exactly a heinous one. No more a crime of moral turpitude than, say, padding your home-office deduction on your 1040A.
No wonder you conservatives get so agitated about it, what with your slavish love of Big Government.
Actually, as one who is part Cherokee, your picture sums it up. US out of North America!
Consider that the immigration laws passed in the early years of the 20th century were passed primairly on racist grounds, though they invented some “overpopulation” nonsense to cover it up. Not much has changed, except that the immigrants are now from Mexico, South America and Asia instead of Eastern Europe and Ireland.
I’ve got an idea straight from the “founding fathers”. Let’s make the parents 3/5 of a citizen! You could deport their left arms and legs and keep the rest!
#6 about we just do away with immigration and just let everybody come on in.
you want to jump the line, tired of paperwork? well here’s the deal that can be yours for a steal. if you can make it to our shores, citizenship is yours.
Establishing citizenship for the domestically born children of slaves in order to compel the States to honor rights which had previously only been protected in the US Constitution at the federal level is hardly the same end as automatically granting citizenship to the children of women who popped across the border just to birth a baby that might allow them to stay. While the current 14th Amendment is indeed the law, it is unfortunate that was crafted to solve a problem from a different time is being exploited by those today who have no other legal claim or right to be here. This noble philosophy you speak of is something you have made up on your own.
#8. did I say this should be legal? didn’t think so. I am just saying that I cannot see hating illegals the way some people on this blog do, comparing them with violent criminals.
Face it, Scooter Libby is a worse criminal than anyone who is just in the US without a green card.
hey Doug, some of those folks without green cards are just as bad or worse than Scooter. let’s be clear, I don’t think all illegals are amoral crooks. but then they are not all sweet, innocent angels as the bleeding left likes to portray them either.
#11. they tend to be people who take risks to improve their lot in life, and that of their families. normally, folks like that tend to be favorites of conservatives, who take Big Government to task for standing in their way and would seek to change the laws that make it hard for them.
there is a disconnect here.
Wow… no matter how you feel about illegals that means it is acceptable to bundle them off from Mass to Tx without regard for their kids? remember innocent until proven guilty…?
personally, I think no one should be given citizenship or any other social benefits unless they give military service to the country first. Also, those that do decide to do military service will pay lower taxes +recieve added benefits to those that decide not to serve this great nation.
I mean everyone says freedom does not come free.
P.S. children of military would be covered till 18, parents of non military children pay
No Exemptions!!
Well, I gotta go with the ole sentiment,
“If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”
They entered the country illegally. They are using phony or stolen Social Security numbers. They are disrupting the economy. Yup, sounds like illegal activity to me.
Because all the illegals caught are a flight risk, they should not qualify for bail. Any American citizen that is a flight risk wouldn’t qualify for bail. The fact that they have children is irrelevant.
Children’s Services should take custody of any minors. If legal Americans relatives can not be found then the children should be put up for adoption.
The children should have no bearing on the parents case. The children are not the ones being charged, the parents are.
#14. Combine it with a provision that prohibits the US from going to war without a 2/3 vote in a national referendum and you have a deal.
You could deport their left arms and legs and keep the rest!
First time I’ve ever seen a literal ‘pay an arm and a leg’.
I believe that ‘illegal immigration/migration’ is considered a CIVIL infraction….
J/P=?
IANAL, but this site located in a hasty google search seems to define illegal immigration as a criminal offense. So, lets looks at this realistically. I have kids. Should I be immune to prosecution simply because of them? If I cheat on my taxes, that is just as much a “victimless crime” as illegal immigration. The only thing it hurts is the economy. And surely, even if I skate on a million dollars, that can’t be significant to a three trillion plus dollar Federal economy. So, my kids should prevent my being imprisoned for tax evasion.
If I were to do that, I hurt my kids. Not the law enforcement. Me. I put them in jeopardy. I risked their livelihood for my own financial gain. And I guarantee you, I could justify how I “needed” the money.
In almost all cases, a criminal was a victim first. That doesn’t get you a pass in this country. Unless you weren’t born here. In this sense, an immigrant attaining citizenship is actually less advantaged that the guy who hopped a fence, or stowed away on a freighter, or bribed a customs official, or whatever.
Doug,
You DON’T live in a border state, do you?
You have no idea what sort of crimes start when the area is overrun with people who have no allegiance to the United States. And, the people heading in have all sorts of criminals in their ranks, some are part of the large drug cartels….(haven’t you heard of some of the machete murders happening in our country…it’s a sign of one of Mexico’s NASTIEST gangs.) Meanwhile…..we are displacing our own home-grown black population….and knocking them out of services, jobs, housing, etc. Yeah, so much for being kind to the blacks, while bending over backwards for the illegal alien browns.
So tell me, Doug, how much of a racist are you? You’d rather see black kids go hungry, so that some Mexican national can send money home to feed kids that aren’t even AMERICANS?
Something is wrong in your logic.
Wake up Doug….oh, but wait, you probably don’t KNOW any black people, do you?
There’s any easy answer to this – repeal the born citizen part of the 14th amendment. It was only in place to insure citizenship for ex-slaves. Totally obsolete now.
This way the parents get no advantage by kids here. Catch ’em and march ’em back across the border – no fuss, no muss.
Alix….your comment about Bush being under pressure is way off. Bush is a jerk….but he has been trying to get a comprehensive immigration bill passed for over 2 years. It was to be one of his first intitives after the 2000 election but 9/11 put that idea on the back burner.
The ones under pressure should be the so-called phoney religious right who call themselves Conservatives…..they are the reason there is no immigration bill.
And I have to agree with several people posting here…….who the hell are these illegals to get special treatment???? They committed a crime just by sneaking into this country…..98% of them who work are committing identity theft, and fraud by using phoney SS numbers and Green cards. If they get caught, to bad for their kids, send them back to Mexico and take the kids into the system.
21,
I quote the headline of the article linked, take up your concerns with the author. You guys need to pay more attention to what part of a given post is the editor’s comments and what part is quoted from referenced material.
I don’t know the answer to the immigration debate myself, but I do feel we need to discuss it. Hence this post.
The child(ren) are Constitutionally US citizens, God bless the lucky little guys. No where in the Constitution does it grant citizenship to the parents of citizens.
So the parents, when caught breaking the law by being in the US illegally, must choose to either take their children and head back across the border or to abandon the children. This is not a tough decision. Take you children home with you.
But don’t forget to take proof of where they were born because the little fella will be completely free to return to the land of their birth when ever he or she desires, sans parents of course.
#2 – No, I condem the parents. Your post puts forth the idea that it’s not their fault the children are in this position… and I’m saying it is.
24,
No, my point is that it isn’t the fault of the children that they are in this situation.
I agree with that point… and I agree that it’s our responsibility, through the government, to care for these children.
(And turn them into Republicans, just like the Cubans.)
So what do we disagree on, again?
At the height of (and during early states of the fall of) Rome’s power, outlying peoples also poured into its immediate environs seeking better lives. Maybe the U.S. can do what Rome did and let illegals earn the right to stay by serving in the military. It didn’t save Rome, and it won’t save a U.S. that hardly manufactures anything for itself anymore, but Joe (14) and Doug (16) make good points.
I like Joe’s take on taxation too but I bet the chicken hawks who whine about inheritance taxes and start wars but don’t serve in them would have fits.
Smartalix,
I really like the caption you picked for this post. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, they could not protect their border from the vast uncontrolled migration of immigrants either and look what happened to them. Will Americans end up suffering a similar fate?
#19. You are denying that Mexican children born in the US are American citizens, and I’M the racist?
And again, because I simply refuse to equate being an illegal alien with being a violent criminal, you seem to think I want it all made legal.
Work on the reading comprehension, meetsy.
#28
Yes indeed, the founding fathers were illegal immigrants. Go figure.