There are more and more heart-breaking stories out there about families being broken apart because of deportation. With the immigration laws so complex and complicated, there are many cases where only a few members of a family can obtain legal status, while the other members stay undocumented, living life in the shadows, so they can be near their relatives.
Breast-feeding infants being taken from their mothers in detention centers. A mother separated from her US citizen minor children and husband for over ten years. A mother and father permanently barred from the United States because of an immigration violation after living in US for over ten years, unable to properly care for their American-born children outside of the United States, are forced to leave their children in foster care.
I always believed that the above situations were the type of things I'd only read about in books or see in movies or at the least occur in countries far less advanced than the United States. Unfortunately cases like these are on the up-rise, and without a change in immigration law this trend will only continue.
Are all the tears and hurt really necessary? Are separating these families really keeping us safer? Are we not a compassionate nation built on the foundation of the family?
(Keep in mind, this would only apply to those who have not committed a serious crime and are not a threat to society.)
So, is family unity a basic human right?
According to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, it is.
There are three articles in particular that are of importance and have been successfully used as arguments to prevent deportation in other countries.
Article 17
- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.
Article 23
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 24
- Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.