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Immigration Laws
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 9
has created lists of the “Top 10
Reasons A labama’s New Im
migration Law Is a Disaster” for
the state’s government, economy,
community safety, public health,
faith communities, rule of law,
education, and families. They
point out fear has led many par
ents to sign power of attorney
documents to allow friends or
family members to legally care
for their children if they are de
ported.
If parents are deported, many
U.S. citizen children may be
forced into foster care, though
“Alabama state officials them
selves are concerned about the
potential impact on the already
overburdened state foster care
system .”
Shattered Families, a recent
report by the Applied Research
Center, noted that more than
NEW S E A S O N S
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C A N S F O R K ID S !
E A S Y & F U N T O S H O P • S E N S IB L Y P R IC E D • L O C A L L Y O W N E D & O P E R A T E D
T u rn y o u r c a n a n d b o ttle d e p o s it s in to c a s h
f o r p u b l i c s c h o o l s a t N e w S e a s o n s M a rk e t.
o
w w w .n e w G e a s o n s m a rk e t.c o m
February I, 2012
5,000children nationally who are
currently in foster care have
parents who have been detained
or deported. The C enter for
American Progress also points
out that when breadwinners are
deported from mixed-status fami
lies, “U.S. citizen spouses and
children will have to take on
additional jobs, potentially drop
out of school, and seek addi
tional social services just to keep
the family afloat. The resulting
cycle of potential poverty and
despair is a prescription for in
stability and a detriment to the
entire fabric of Alabama com
munities.”
Some U.S. citizen children in
mixed-status families are being
forced to shoulder new burdens
for their families, including tak
ing over the driving and shopping
if they have valid licenses. O f
course, undocumented children
are a target themselves, includ
ing many who were brought to
the United States as infants or
small children and have never
known another home.
The overwhelming sense of
fear is apparent even among the
youngest children, as school ad
ministrators like those at Foley
Elementary know very well, and
it isn’t just limited to children in
immigrant families. A Birming
ham school counselor said, “My
sixth graders of African Ameri
can descent were asking me if
they were going to have to go
back to Africa. There is a fear
factor out there that is written
between the lines of the law
that's having a chilling effect on
Alabama classrooms.”
As one U.S. citizen son put it:
“At school we were taught about
the Civil Rights period. This is
the same thing, it’s happening
again. I make good grades, so
does my brother. We are nor
mally at the top of our class. I try
my hardest to be good. The
people making this law, they need
to put themselves in our shoes
and think about how they’re split
ting families.”
As a slight ray of hope, there is
pressure mounting in the state to
repeal the law or parts of it. The
irony of an era of fear, repression,
and profiling repeating itself in
Alabama is not lost on many on
lookers. For those who refuse to
return to that era in Alabama, or
any other part of America, the
time to speak up is now.
Marian Wright Edelman is
president o f the Children’s
Defense Fund.