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Suffer the Little Children : Immigration Enforcement and the Foster Care System

8:03 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Family|Immigration|Justice|Women · 4 Comments

3 Nov 2011

Shattered Familiess, A report released yesterday by the Applied Research Center, states that current immigration enforcement policies put at risk 15,000 additional children for placement into the foster care system. The report is the first of its kind to research the impact of the intersection of immigration enforcement and the child welfare system.

As many families know, the foster care system already has parents of color, poor parents and immigrant parents in it’s crosshairs. Child welfare, working with local law enforcement who engage in racial profiling, put the long term care of children at risk. Poverty, instead of being looked at as a structural problem, is viewed as criminal neglect. Instead of attempting to attack the root causes of poverty, parents are criminalized and asked “why did you have children if you can’t afford them”. According to the report, children of immigrants are significantly more likely than children of non-immigrant parents to live in low-income families (below 200% poverty line)—35% to 49%. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that immigrant families ay not

I am reminded of the case of Cirila Baltazar Cruz, who lost custody of her daughter when a Mississippi social worker, who didn’t speak the same Indigenous language as Baltazar Cruz and who never sought translation services, found the Oaxacan mother unfit to care for her infant Ruby citing her lack of language skills, as well as fabrications that accused Baltazar Cruz of engaging in criminal activity. Eventually, Cruz was reunited with her daughter, but not before almost losing her permanently, as Ruby was placed in the care of a prominent local family that sought to fast track the child for adoption.

The ARC report presents many like cases, showing that what happened to Baltazar Cruz wasn’t a one off incident, but rather a symptom of how the criminalization of immigrants also seeks to make immigrant parenthood illegal. ARC identified at least 22 states across the country where children in foster care are separated from their parents because of immigration enforcement. Because of the long amount of time it often takes for immigration matters to be resolved, children lose
the opportunity to ever see their parents again when a juvenile dependency
court terminates parental rights. In fiscal year 2011, the United States deported a record-breaking 397,000 people and detained nearly that many. According to never before released federal data acquired by ARC through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, a growing number of deportees are parents. In the first six months of 2011, the federal government removed more than 46,000 mothers and fathers of U.S.-citizen children. ARC conservatively estimates that there are at least 5,100
children currently living in foster care whose parents have
been either detained or deported.

The increase in enforcement programs, like Secure Communities and 287(g, have made the situation worse. In counties where local police have signed 287(g) agreements with
ICE, children in foster care were, on average, about 29 percent more likely to have a detained or deported parent than in other counties.

Monday Movie : La Cosecha/The Harvest

6:48 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Labor|Movies|youth · Comments Off

15 Aug 2011

What did you eat this weekend? Onions, tomatoes, strawberries, watermelons, blueberries, cucumbers, or apples? If you said yes to any of the above it is possible that your food passed through the hands of one of the three teenagers featured in the documentary la Cosecha/The Harvest.

The Harvest/La Cosecha – Theatrical Trailer from Shine Global on Vimeo.

The film follows the lives of Zulema, Victor, y Perla as they follow their families as three of the 400,000 who pick the food that passes over our tables. The teens, are described as American children – as in from the United States, but one shouldn’t gloss over the fact that they are Latin American children as well. The children of immigrants or immigrants themselves. They speak the languages of Latinos – our languages : Spanish, English, and Spanglish.
“My dad no esta” – says 14 year old Zulema.
“Vamos al field,” says 16 year old Victor.
And they In the words of 14 year old Perla:

Because you are brown they think you’re from Mexico. They think your stupid, poor, a migrant. I was born here. Where am I supposed to go?

Monday Morning Movie Preview : The Harvest/la Cosecha

18 Jul 2011

No doubt this morning, the buzz is how much money the final episode in the Harry Potter film franchise made this past weekend. I would like to draw your attention to less magical matters. Thinking specifically of a comment that longtime reader Sabina made last week saying how all of us in the U.S. benefit from immigrant labor made me think of this upcoming film.

The Harvest/La Cosecha – Theatrical Trailer from Shine Global on Vimeo.

The Harvest/La Cosecha tells the story of the children who feed America.

Coming to NY July 29th
Coming to LA August 5th
Coming to TV on Epix Oct 5th

www.theharvestfilm.com

The film, Executive Produced by Eve Longoria and released though a non-profit (of which I know little about), Shine Global Inc., certainly deals with an important issue. How it tells the story of the young farm laborers will be important too. Already in the marketing of the film we see language used to make these children “American” as in of the U.S., not of the “Americas”. This is supposed to clearly elicit more sympathy than say if the film was about “non-Americans”. I worry about this divide.

The film also apparently is being used as a way to promote policy – pushing not from the DREAM Act, or AGJobs or CIR but rather equal protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prevents children under a certain age from working and applies conditions for youth labor. On the official website of the film there is even a place for people to contact their local congressperson and senators.

I am certainly interested in seeing the film to do a full review. Screening information is here.

What do you all think?

A Few Quick Updates and Announcements

11 Mar 2011

Started this morning with the frightening images of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Our prayers go out to all impacted.

Posting has been light this week, as mami’hood has been heavy as has been work on projects for events to come. I am ever appreciative of the support from VivirLatino readers.

In case you are interested, here is what Mala has been cooking up in her head, heart and soul :
I am thrilled and excited as can be to be participating in el Museo del Barrio’s Super Sabado FREE day, March 19th, on Art & Activism. I am the official storyteller for the day, leading two interactive storytelling segments, one at noon and another at 2, called COLORIN COLORADO in el Museo’s cafe. I promise this will be more than fairy tales and yes bring your children! This activity will be trilingual : English, Spanish, Spanglish.
Read more…

The 58 Dreams Deferred Daily : 2010 Mexican Migrant Children Statistics

10:48 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Immigration|mexico · 2 Comments

4 Jan 2011

According to an article in today’s El Diario/La Prensa, everyday an average of 58 Mexican minors are “voluntarily repatriated” , that is deported to Mexico. Of those 58, around 70 percent of them are unaccompanied. Doing that math, that means that around 40 children are sent back to Mexico without adults on a daily basis. And these are incomplete numbers, meaning they do not include children who were deported outside of an agreement signed between Mexico and U.S. Homeland Security in 2004.

These numbers, which came from the Mexican agency, Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), further state that in between January and November of 2010, there were 439,898 deportation cases of which 19,296 were children, and out of the children, 3,653 were identified as female.
Read more…

Criminalizing Immigrant Mami’Hood : Cirila Baltazar Cruz Sues

19 Aug 2010

Cirila Baltazar Cruz may have returned to Mexico with her beloved daughter Ruby, but that does not mean that the state of Mississippi should not be held responsible for the ordeal that the Oaxacan mother and her child went through because of hate filled policy.

VivirLatino first wrote about Cirila over a year ago, when there was still hope of comprehensive immigration reform being passed this year and yet the narrative was framed in term of who deserved that reform? Certainly not women like Cirila Baltazar Cruz, an Indigenous woman from Oaxaca, a single mami, who dared to work and live in the United States not speaking English or Spanish. A fellow Latina, identified as Puerto Rican in original reports, took away Cirila’s newborn daughter, Ruby, after deciding that speaking Chatino, an Indigenous language, made her an unfit mother. Not only was Ruby taken away and placed with a prominent white family and fast-tracked for adoption, Cirila was criminalized in a way the happens all too often to immigrant mujeres and mamis. She was accused of being a sex worker.

VivirLatino Proudly Participating in first annual Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice

9 Aug 2010

We are proud and honored to participate in the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health‘s first annual Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice. Everyday this week, we will feature a post relating to Latinas and reproductive justice and invite you to discuss with us and with each other what reproductive justice looks like for nuestra comunidad.

All of our posts and the posts of others will be linked to the Latina Institute’s blog, Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voice> (Our Life, Our Voice). We invite our readers to visit that site as well to further the conversation.

Israel Takes a Page from U.S. Immigration Policy

10:21 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Immigration|israel|Labor|language · 1 Comment

4 Aug 2010

The relationship between the U.S. and Israel is now extending to immigrant policy. Last weekend, Israel moved to deport the children of migrant workers, children born and Israel and children who do not know their parents’ country of origin. Peep the rhetoric coming from the Prime Minister and see if you can make the connection.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was made because the country faced increasing illegal migration, which was a threat to its Jewish character,” the BBC reported. Netanyahu also implied that the children were a drain on state-funded education and health care benefits, according to the Los Angeles Times. For years, the country encouraged foreign workers to cross its borders and take the low-paying jobs that Israelis wouldn’t do. Now that the government is looking to reduce its dependence on foreign labor, Israel is kicking out those workers who came to the country legally—and the families they’ve been raising. “It’s unfair and unjust,” said one parent of the deportation plan. “These children are born here and speak the language. Israel should recognize their birthright.”

Border Patrol Plays Target Practice with Teenager

9:02 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · children|Immigration|mexico|U.S.-Mexico Border|Violence · 9 Comments

9 Jun 2010

Yesterday I wrote how the homicide of Antonio Hernandez Rojas at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents was just the beginning based on how the Obama administration has chosen to go about immigration reform, that is by further militarizing the border with Mexico. I didn’t expect for my prediction to come true so quickly, especially not with the life of a teenager.

Yesterday U.S. Border Patrol shot and killed Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca (some reports say he was 14, some say 15) in Texas. U.S. Border Patrol is defending it’s actions, saying that the boy was part of a group that was trying to cross the border into the U.S. without papers. Border Patrol is also saying the group that the boy was with was throwing rocks at their men. Naturally, the proper response to someone throwing rocks at you is to shoot and kill them, especially if they are Mexican.

There have been reports that Sergio was just playing near the border when he was shot, another report I read said that he was visiting a relative who lived in el Norte. Regardless of why Sergio was on the border, regardless of if he had rocks in his hands or not, there is not justification for this. Where is Obama now? Now that he has ordered sending National Guard troops to the border when already this year, which is not even half way over, the number of injuries and deaths on the border at the hands of Border Patrol is higher than it has been in the previous two years. Where are his promises of reform and change? Seems like they are being buried along with the bodies of our children.

The Anchor Baby Racket

12:25 pm By la Macha · arizona|children|Immigration|Women · 8 Comments

25 May 2010

Via Racewire comes the disgusting, but sadly not shocking, news that the 14th Amendment will be the next target in Russel Pearce’s (the author of SB 1070) campaign against immigrants.

Pearce writes in one e-mail: “I also intend to push for an Arizona bill that would refuse to accept or issue a birth certificate that recognizes citizenship to those born to illegal aliens, unless one parent is a citizen.”

One of the more remarkable e-mails sent to a list of supporters detailed his next steps: The e-mail, several pages long, includes articles critical of the 14th Amendment, which gives babies born on U.S. soil automatic citizenship.

One of the e-mails written by someone else but forwarded by Pearce reads: “If we are going to have an effect on the anchor baby racket, we need to target the mother. Call it sexist, but that’s the way nature made it. Men don’t drop anchor babies, illegal alien mothers do.”

If we take just a minute here to do a little supposing, we can really see how preposterous and dangerous it is to assume that women are the sole instigators in “dropping anchors.”

Let’s pretend a Mexican man gets together with a white female citizen. The white woman gets pregnant. The man leaves–leaving the citizen baby with her citizen mother.

Did the man just drop an anchor here? Is that baby a citizen or an anchor? Does the white mother bear sole legal responsibility for bearing an anchor baby? How do we punish that mother for bearing an anchor baby? And if we don’t assume this baby is an anchor baby, why do we assume *women* get pregnant with the exclusive desire to get citizenship, and men don’t? Can’t men use their citizen child just as vindictively as women can?

And are we to assume that citizen women who get pregnant with “illegal sperm” are really so innocent? That they aren’t hopeful, didn’t specifically *suggest*–let’s get pregnant so you can stay here!

There are simply too many holes in any scenario (another example: parents come here legally [as most do] and their papers expire. Kids are born when papers are legal. Are they anchor babies?]) based in reality to find a credible reason to target mothers/women specifically–but that really doesn’t seem to matter much.

As most of us involved in pro-immigration work know, the decision to target mothers/women has been gaining steam and support for years, decades, really. There is no logic behind any of the arguments–except that mothers/women are easiest to target.

Which brings up the difficult question: when you know that a group is being targeted exclusively because of hate–how do you *logically* fight that? How do “5 Myths about Immigrants” posts (which I do find very helpful, by the way) stand up against an emotion–an intense passionate emotion that most people can’t even really explain coherently?

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