Immigration Law Commons^™

Tips For Safety Planning For Children Of Undocumented Parents, Jennifer Baum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In 2013, more than 5 million children in the United States (over 7 percent of the total U.S. child population) were living with at least one undocumented parent, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The overwhelming majority of these children (80 percent) were U.S. citizens. The Washington Post reported that more than half a million of these children's parents have in fact been deported since 2009. That's a lot of U.S. children living day to day with the sudden loss, or risk of sudden loss, of a parent through deportation.

What Process Is Due?: Unaccompanied Minors' Rights To Deportation Hearings, Irene Scharf, Christine Hess

Faculty Publications

Thousands of foreign-born children enter the United States every year. Many, particularly those crossing at the Mexican border, arrive without legal immigration status and unaccompanied by adults. Once here, these children have certain rights under the Constitution and the immigration laws of this country. Their primary right is to a deportation hearing. Under the current procedures used by Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), however, these children are encouraged to waive that right and "elect" voluntary departure. The voluntary departure process requires that they admit to having entered the country illegally, choose the country to which they will return, and leave …