The immigrants that come over to the states and birth children, then have to return to their originating country without their child, lose more than the “freedom” of the United States. When reflecting back to coursework, we can relate this issue to the story “The Leavers” when Demming’s mother is sent back to China because of payments she is unable to make. This sort of issue comes into effect more than the average eye sees daily. An example of complications of children of immigrants that I vividly remember is from when President Donald J. Trump was just getting settled into his office after the 2016 inauguration. In this situation, it was narrated to me that the people from outside of the border where attempting to illegally pass over; in turn, this resulted those that had children to lose custody and were continued back over the country law. By law, this was handled accordingly due to their stepping over the border line and placing them into United States territory. However, ethically or empathetically speaking, it does not seem right to send their parents back over, but keep their children on United States soil. Emotionally and psychologically speaking, however, this is detrimental to both the parents and children.
Let me show the numbers:
According to AdoptUSKids, the United States alone has well over 400,00 foster youth (around 450,000). Now, hypothetically speaking, imagine that being half that number of foster parents, maybe even a fourth of it. that rounds to 5 children per household. Next, factor in those parents having children of their own, with the average maximum number of children ranging from 3-5, that brings the number with homes lower to about homes for 300,000. Then, factor is the parents without their own children having a cap number of children at a time being 2. There are now homes for 275,000 children, leaving the other 175,000 on the streets, in an orphanage, or dying.
This is a MAJOR issue. I find it to be considered a systemic injustice to also keep their children here solely because they are born in the United States but their family is being sent elsewhere while the children, not common with our world, are stuck here by themselves.
Below lists articles that I find are important to understand the backbone of this Showcase.
Foster Youth Research:
https://www.google.com/search?q=number+of+foster+parents+in+the+us&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS831US831&oq=number+of+foster+&aqs=chrome.2.69i59j69i57j0l2j0i20i263j0l2j0i390l2.5735j1j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Family Separation at the Border:
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621065383/what-we-know-family-separation-and-zero-tolerance-at-the-border
I definitely really liked your showcase, as it highlights a systemic injustices in the US that has become increasingly more prevalent in recent years. As you highlighted, specifically since 2016. One remark that stood out to me was when you stated that, while making illegal immigrants return to their country and leave their children behind in the US is the correct way to handle the situation by law, it is not the ethical thing to do. The logical way of thinking is that, if we follow the law, we are behaving correctly and ethically. However, this is not always correct, since things in reality are not always “black and white”. The situation is much more complex and nuanced and I believe it should be handled on a case-by-case basis, since separating a family is such a horrible thing to do and seems like a harsh consequence.
Hello! I think that your showcase is definitely one of the most alarming issues that immigrants are facing in the U.S today. I think the most alarming statistic that you have in your showcase is that the amount of children being admitted in adoption centers is increasing year by year. I also agree with your reasoning that it is a systematic injustice is because that the children are being kept here. I think it’s a horrible tragedy that kids as young as infants are being left behind due to them being born here. I think the only way to fix this problem is to install better legislations for immigrants. That may be the only way that we can solve the problem.