According to the AP,
A pilot program allowing illegal immigrants to surrender to authorities and have more control over their deportation has been dubbed a failure.
That was fairly predictable. But who would have thought that out of the 1/2 million undocumented immigrants eligible, only 8 would take advantage of it?
ICE spent $41,000 to advertise the program. Hayes said the government may have saved money because the cost of detaining the .. immigrants who turned themselves in during the program's first week would have been $37,000.
Do you really think the government saved money with the program? If you do, you probably believe in the tooth fairy.
The Government has failed to consider family ties to America, according to immigrant advocates.
Immigrant advocates said the program flopped because it offered few incentives for illegal immigrants to step forward since they would be barred from returning to the country for as long as a decade. They also said it failed to consider immigrants' ties to family here.
According to a 2004 statistics by Pew Hispanic Trust it's estimated that
the number of persons living in families in which the head of the household or the spouse is an unauthorized migrant--13.9 million as of March 2004, including 4.7 million children. Of those individuals, some 3.2 million are US citizens by birth but are living in "mixed status" families in which some members are unauthorized, usually a parent, while others, usually children, are Americans by birthright.
Can you imagine the long term emotional, financial, educational, and societal effects that these Deportations have on those 3.2 million American kids and on our society?
Actually we do know how these deportations and family separations affect families. The Study done by the Urban Institute and La Raza showed that:
After the arrest or disappearance of their parents, children experienced feelings of abandonment and showed symptoms of emotional trauma, psychological duress, and mental health problems. Many lacked stability in child care and supervision. Families continued hiding and feared arrest if they ventured outside, increasing social isolation over time. Immigrant communities faced the fear of future raids, backlash from nonimmigrants, and the stigma of being labeled "illegal." The combination of fear, isolation, and economic hardship induced mental health problems such as depression, separation anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts. However, due to cultural reasons, fear of possible consequences in asking for assistance, and barriers to accessing services, few affected immigrants sought mental health care for themselves or their children.
And the study was on the effect on a small number of kids. Multiply that times the tens of thousands that are being detained and removed. And we all know that millions of U.S. citizen kids fear having their parent or family member deported or jailed, causing similar effects on those kids.
Aren't we, as Americans, outraged by these immigration policies that will severely hurt these vulnerable kids and also hurt America for generations to come?