Monday, June 22, 2009

Family Split Apart by Deportation

Despite being a U.S. citizen, Saul, having no other relatives near by, followed his mom, Elvira Arellano to Tijuana to return later, alone to Chicago to go back to school.

Elvira was not a U.S. citizen, she crossed the border illegally, twice. She had no legal rights to be in the United States, but what about the rights of her son? Does he have a right to be with his mom?

Saul´s story is not unique. Thousands of children in the United States live in fear that their parents could be deported, thousands more have seen their families torn apart by immigration laws. Being born in the United States ensures they are citizens from birth, and most do not know other country.

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, according to the principle of jus soli.

Certain individuals born in the United States, such as children of foreign heads of state or children of foreign diplomats, do not obtain U.S. citizenship under jus soli.

Also individuals born outside of the United States are born citizens because of their parents, according to the principle of jus sanguinis (which holds that the country of citizenship of a child is the same as that of his / her parents).

Now roughly 150 children are asking President Barack Obama to halt the deportations of their parents until Congress overhauls U.S. immigration laws.

The children are all U.S. citizens and say their constitutional rights are being violated because they, too, will likely have to leave the country if their parents are forced to leave.

But herein lies the dilemma and I ask.  If a person enters a country "illegally" they know that they are here illegally right?  So why is it that we afford their children born in the US citizenship?  I think that we need to revise the 14th Amendment here.

We could end all of this back and forth nonsense about borders and the like by enforcing our own and make the rules plain and simple for all to understand.  If you enter the country illegally you will be deported - you and your little kiddies too!

8 comments:

  1. While Sad I know, The fact remains that the parents broke the law. I have freinds from multiple different countries, who all went through the long process of becoming US citizens. This cost them a huge amount of money and time. Why should others be able to bypass that. Remember for an Alien, being a US citizen is a privlege...not a right. You have to earn it. My grandparents had to do it...So does everyone else. The reason they were deported like Criminals is because they ARE criminals. ILLEAGAL ALIENS. Deal with it. Like everyone else has for 200 years!!!

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  2. Whose stupid idea was it to post the instructions in a FOREIGN language? And when are we going to wise up and quite rewarding criminal behavior. The law must be changed so that whether you are born here or not, if your parents are illegal, you are illegal. Do not reward the criminals by allowing them anchor babies and further stress our already strained-to-the-limit economy. Illegals cost this country billions of dollars a year, not to mention American citizens' jobs.

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  3. No violation--self inflicted injury The Executive branch has virtrual discretion in controlling the entry of those who wish to enter the United States. Entry must follow a complex set of laws and rules, not "expectations" A United States citizen does not have a personal or property due process right to have any person who violated the law to remain in the country. If the citizen is a child, his parent or parents may place him with a legal resident or citizen, or go back with them to their country of origin--this right is guaranteed. The harm in quesiton is not caused by improper federal action, rather, it is the logical result of appropriate border regulation. The harm was caused by the mother entering the country illegally.

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  4. What's the problem? Under Nicaraguan law, children of Nicaraguans who are born abroad have Nicaraguan citizenship. They can join her there at any time. The same applies to Mexico, where parents can apply for citizenship for their foreign born children from any Mexican Embassy. It costs ten dollars and takes about a week to receive confirmation. This "tearing apart families" line is a con. Nobody is keeping these kids from their parents except their parents, who broke the law by sneaking into the US in the first place. "BY DESCENT: Child born abroad, one of whose parents is a citizen of Nicaragua. Child born abroad, whose mother or father was formerly Nicaraguan, if the child applies for citizenship after reaching the age of consent.

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  5. "they take our parents away like they are criminals". Guess what, they are criminals and they need to either respect the laws of our nation, and come here legally, or they need to pay the price of their actions. These parents know what they are doing to their families and the chances they take in getting caught. They are to blame, not our laws.

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  6. Why didn't mom take her kids with her? ILLEGAL is ILLEGAL! If they are breaking the law, they need to be deported! Can't feel sorry for them!

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  7. Here we go again.........Let's blame the US on everything. WE are the melting pot for everysingle country on earth. I feel for these children. But at the same token. These ADULTS knew exactly what they where doing. They took advantage of the US illegally. Now you have these people in Miami suing the Obama administration. Bushie didn't do anything. And now they want Obama to wave a magic wand to make it all better. My brother's and sister were born in the Canal Zone. At the time under the US Flag, just like McCain. We are US Citizens by birth. The hardship these people put on the US is unjustified. We are in the worse economic recession since 1929. We can't help everyone at this time.

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  8. I don't want to hear that we are all immigrants, when my grandparents came here, they insisted that the children speak English. I asked my grandmother once to teach me to speak Italian. My grandmother said you are now an American and should speak English. Learn to Speak good English and you will feel like you are an American. She didn't say push 1 for english and 2 for spanish. I wonder what language this kid is speaking? Lets do what the Cubans do. If you are in jail for a crime, send them back to their countries and let them worry about these people. Thats what Cuba did to their prisoners. Don't do the Liberal thing and have me cry for these children.

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