Law Commons^™

Unintended And Unavoidable: The Failure To Protect Rule And Its Consequences For Undocumented Parents And Their Children, Sarah Rogerson

Sarah Rogerson

Parents without immigration status in the United States regularly face the threat of deportation and separation from their children. When an undocumented parent is brought to the attention of law enforcement through the child welfare system, they also face the potential of the loss of legal custodial rights to their children. The child welfare system and immigration enforcement mechanisms operate independent of one another with little regard to how actions in one can impact a parent’s legal rights in the other, often permanently separating children from their parents. This article examines the particular issue of undocumented parents who are charged …