Lately every new immigration-related bill that I’ve come across seems to deal with enforcement-only approach – without any humane or compassion to the thousands of families these bills will effect.

So I was very surprised to learn about this not very well-known immigration bill called the Child Citizen Protection Act (H.R. 1176). I feel this bill is a good step towards fixing a part of our broken immigration system. I have younger sibling who is a U.S. citizen and this could help my parents should they ever come under deportation. 

Child Citizen Protection Act was introduced in the House on February 2, 2007 by Rep Serrano (NY-16), and currently has thirty co-sponsors. The text of the bill can be searched for on THOMAS.

As I have stated in earlier posts about the issue of Family Unity, which can be read here and here, the United States does not consider U.S. citizen children before deporting an immigrant parent. Many countries around the world already have something like this bill in place.

The 1996 Immigration laws made deportation a mandatory punishment for certain non-citizens, and when deportation is mandatory an immigration judge’s hands are tied. Even if the judge feels the deportation is not fair, the judge cannot do anything about it. 

The Child Citizen Protection Act will allow U.S. citizen children to be heard in court before a parent is taken away. This bill will allow immigration judges to consider whether deportation is "clearly against the best interests of a US citizen child".  It simply allows the family and children to be heard in court and gives the judge the right to take into account hardship towards a U.S. citizen child, as long as the immigrant is not deportable for security reasons or has not engaged in sex trafficking.

Last week the New York City Council passed a near-unanimous voice vote resolution in support of H.R. 1176, urging the House to pass this legislation. It has not yet been introduced in the US Senate.

For more information visit Families for Freedom.

I’d like to end the post with two quotes taken from the above website:

“I never saw my dad.  I felt sad and mad at the government that he got deported and never saw him again before he was killed in El Salvador.  Something else could be done, because kids need their fathers.  My mom is single, and she's gonna have to work two jobs.  With her kids, it's hard for her because their father has been deported.”

-Junior, 13-year old U.S. citizen whose father was deported to El Salvador (Los Angeles, CA)

"I love my father. I'm very sad they came and took my papi away in handcuffs and deported him to Mexico. My papi never got a parking ticket, he never gets drunk, he works everyday.  I want to tell the judge how good he is, but they won't let me.  I want Santa to give me back my father".

—6-year-old Alejandra Barrios whose father was deported to Mexico (Chicago, IL)