According to a recent
National Public Radio story, about five million children in the United States have at least one parent
who is an undocumented immigrant. While there has always been a risk of
a family separation if a parent is deported, with the increased immigration
enforcement efforts that have occurred since Trump took office last January,
this risk has dramatically increased. If parents are unexpectedly detained
or they have not made sufficient arrangements for their children, the
children are often placed in foster care; because the children are often
American citizens, or because the immigration officials simply decide
to keep them out of detention, the children are not deported along with
their parents. Moreover, the chances of parents being able to get their
children back from a country thousands of miles away or from an immigration
detention facility are remote, at best. Back in 2011, a study showed that
about 5,000 children whose parents had been deported were in the foster
care system. In response to these statistics, the Obama administration
made various policy changes in order to protect parents’ interests
during immigration proceedings and released many parents who were in detention
facilities back into their communities. With these policies no longer
in place, however, immigration advocates now fear that the number of children
of deported immigrants in foster care, as well as the number of immigrant
parents’ whose parental rights are terminated, will increase dramatically.
Therefore, advocates are urging all undocumented immigrants with children
to have plans for their children in place in the event that they are deported,
usually in the form of guardianship documents that designate another adult
to be the guardian of their children. The separation of families continues
to be an all-too frequent occurrence in the federal government’s
methods of enforcing immigration laws. As a result, getting immigrants
released from detention is a primary objective of our law firm. The deportation
defense lawyers of
Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C.
will continue to handle deportation defense claims on behalf of individuals
who have been detained and charged with removal. We know how devastating
it can be for individuals to face potentially being forced to return to
a country where they previously were persecuted, where they no longer
have family or a home, or where they will experience significant violence
and unrest. We care about you and your family, and we want to help you
remain in the country. Call our office today to set up your legal consultation.
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If you want to know more about the Biden's Proposed Immigration Reform, watch our video!