Children and Immigration

1
Children and Immigration
Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy Fall Forum
October 10, 2006 Presenter Shirley Cox, Catholic
Charities
2
Immigration

• On April 10, 1996, the following excerpt appeared
  in the editorial page of the Daily Oklahoman
• The overload of foreign born is feeding the
  street gangs, filling jails, fueling
  anti-American multiculturalism, depressing wages,
  swamping the educational system, flooding social
  services, populating ghettos and provoking racial
  separatism.

3
Immigration

• According to Brookings Institution
• One in five children in the United States lives
  in an immigrant family
• Most children of immigrants will be lifelong U.S.
  residents
• Children of immigrants face several difficulties
  that children of native-born parents do not,
  including
• adapting to cultural norms that may differ from
  those of their parents and
• learning a language that may not be spoken at home

4
Immigration

• According to Brookings Institution
• The poverty rate of children in
• immigrant families 21
• as against 14 for children in native-born
  families
• Nearly half of children in immigrant
• families have family incomes below 200 percent of
  poverty
• compared with only 34 of native children

5
Immigration

• According to Brookings Institution
• Though children in immigrant families
• experience higher poverty and hardship rates
• are less likely to receive public assistance,
  including Medicaid, than other low-income
  children-
• about half as likely to participate in Medicaid,
  a gap that has widened in recent years

6
Immigration

• According to Brookings Institution
• Although 1996 immigrant restrictions do
• not apply to U.S. children born to
• immigrant parents
• children are citizens entitled to all benefits
  enjoyed by other citizens
• Inappropriately called anchor babies
• but -restrictions on parents have had a chilling
  effect on families participation in the programs

7
Immigration

• An Urban Institute report
• Indicates young children of immigrants
• less likely to be in center-based child care
  potentially limiting their preparation for
  schooling

8
Immigration

• David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• for the Future of Children 2004
• Compared with children of U.S.-born parents
• children of immigrants are more likely to be born
  healthier and to live with both parents
• The percentage of immigrant children living in
  single-parent households is only about 16
  percent, compared with 26 percent for children of
  U.S.-born families.

9
Immigration

• David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• for the Future of Children 2004
• Immigrant children are more likely to be living
  in poverty and to be without health insurance
• Immigrants from Mexico, Asia, Central America,
  and the Caribbean- make up the largest part of
  current immigrant populations
• tend to be poorly educated
• have limited English skills
• have poorer job prospects

10
Immigration

• David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• for the Future of Children 2004
• Immigrant families generally come to America
  eager to work hard/expect their children do the
  same
• Children of immigrants typically
• imbued with a strong sense of family obligation
  and ethnic pride
• imbued with the importance of education,
• tend to do better in school, at least through
  middle school
• by adolescence become disillusioned and their
  attitudes toward teachers and scholastic
  achievement can turn negative

11
Immigration

• David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• for the Future of Children 2004
• Immigrant families tend to settle in communities
  from same country
• gives children a cohesive/culturally consonant
  community -buffers some of the negative
  influences
• may also make acquisition of a new language more
  difficult
• 72 of children in immigrant families speak a
  language other than English at home

12
Immigration

• Federal Immigration

13
Immigration

• Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and
• Illegal Immigration Control Act of
• 2005 (HR 4437)
• Criminalize the status of millions of non-U.S.
  citizens
• Criminalize activities which assist undocumented
• Mandate that lawful immigrants convicted of
  minor crimes be deported
• Provide no road to lawful status for the
  millions of undocumented non-citizens already in
  the U.S.

14
Immigration

• Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal
  Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR 4437)

Provides for fence- total 700 miles near Laredo,
Texas across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
15
Immigration

• HAGEL-MARTINEZ COMPROMISE IMMIGRATION REFORM
  LEGISLATION
• Temporary Worker Program -For persons outside
  U.S.
• Group 1- Undocumented in U.S For more than five
  years prior to April 5, 2006
• Group 2 Undocumented in U.S. on January 7,
  2004 but do not meet requirements of Group 1
• Group 3 Undocumented Immigrants Who Entered The
  U.S. After January 7, 2004

16
Immigration

• Other Immigration Legislation
• 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work
  Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)-part of
  welfare reform legal immigrants cannot access
  Medicaid for their first five years in the U.S.
• 2006 Deficit Reduction Act (DRA)-New
  documentation requirement for people applying for
  or renewing Medicaid eligibility (went into
  effect on July 1, 2006)

17
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• Four bills introduced at beginning of 2006
  Legislative Session

18
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• SB 1769 by Sen. Kenneth Corn
• Provided that any person determined to be an
  undocumented alien may be arrested by officers of
  the Department of Public Safety.

19
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• HB 2549 by Rep. Mark Liotta
• Provided all peace officers would have the
  authority to enforce immigration laws of the
  United States and may arrest the person without a
  warrant

20
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• HB2613 by Rep. Kevin Calvey, Financial
  Assistance Immigration Reporting Act
• Required public employees, including schools, to
  verify immigration status of person
• If unable to provide proof of legal residence,
  public employee had to report the person to U.S.
  Immigration

21
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• HB3119 by Rep. Randy Terrill Oklahoma Taxpayer
  and Citizen Protection Act,
• Required certain federal, state and local
  agencies and schools to report the name of a
  person who failed to provide proof of lawful
  presence in U.S.
• Repealed prior law that permits undocumented
  students to attend college at in-state tuition
  rate if student had gone to high school in U.S

22
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• Two false premises --
• State proposals can curb illegal immigration
• Undocumented drain state resources

23
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• Myth State proposals can curb illegal
  immigration
• Emigration - not first choice, but last choice
• Leave families
• Bring loved ones
• Risk dehydration/illness/death in desert

24
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• Area at issue
• Local law enforcements involvement in
  enforcement of civil immigration laws

25
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• Law Enforcement Okla. Assoc. of
• Chiefs of Police Concerns
• Confusion over civil/criminal
• Training/shrinking budgets
• Limitations on arrests without warrants
• Liability
• Chilling effects on community policing

26
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• Myth Undocumented drain state resources

27
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• State resources
• Education
• Corrections
• Public benefits

28
Immigration

• STATE IMMIGRATION
• Education
• Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court case
• Held that all children K-12 entitled to public
  school education, including undocumented students

29
Immigration

• State Immigration-
• Public Benefits
• Not eligible for most public assistance
• Food stamps, housing, welfare cash payments
  (TANF), SSI, Medicaid
• Exception Medicaid pays for emergency care in
  hospitals

30
Immigration

• State Immigration-
• Statistics
• OHCA - .33 of 2005 budget for emergency
  assistance to undocumented- mandated by federal
  gov.
• DHS - .06 of caseload emergency assistance to
  undocumented
• DOC- lt 1.5 of inmates defined as immigrants

31
Immigration

• Consequences
• Decline-visits by U.S. citizen children to health
  clinics
• Decrease - participation in health-related,
  literacy, domestic violence, nutritional programs
  by those legally eligible
• Widespread apprehension, concern and confusion,
  even among legal permanent residents and U.S.
  citizens
• Some parents even feared sending children to
  school