The Urban Institute

1. Families and the Experience of Heightened Immigration EnforcementJuan Manuel Pedrozajpedroza@urban.org Presentation for “Creciendo Juntos / Growing Together” November 10, 2011 The Urban Institute

2. Overview • Brief Background on children of immigrants in the United States • Description of Study • Findings • Family Separation • Family Well-Being • Child Behavior • Policy Recommendations

4. Children of Immigrants in the U.S. • Immigrants in the U.S. (38M) and children of immigrants in the U.S. (16.6M; 22% of all U.S. children) • 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. & 7.8 million in the U.S. labor force (March 2009) • 5.1 million children with unauthorized immigrant parents (March 2009) • 4 million children of unauthorized immigrants were born in the United States (March 2009) • Between 1998 and 2007, over 100,000 immigrant parents of U.S. citizen children have been deported from the United States (U.S. DHS OIG) • Sources: Passel & Cohn, 2010, “U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Flows Are Down Sharply Since Mid-Decade,” Pew Hispanic Center; Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, 2009, “Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children.”

5. Source: Urban Institute, 2010, Integrated Public Use Microdata Series datasets, American Community Survey. http://datatool.urban.org/charts/datatool_v2/pages.cfm

6. Research Questions • What are the effects of enforcement on family separation? • How do these effects differ in the short and longer terms? • What are the specific effects of enforcement on children’s well-being? • What economic hardships do families face? • What changes in children’s behavior are reported at home or in schools? • What services and social supports did families receive in the immediate and long-term aftermath of parental arrests?

7. Study Sites • Grand Island, NE – December 2006 worksite raid • New Bedford, MA – March 2007 worksite raid • Van Nuys, CA – February 2008 worksite raid • Postville, IA – May 2008 worksite raid • Rogers and Springdale, AR – Ongoing local law enforcement of immigration violations since 2007 • Miami, FL – Fugitive Operations Team (FOT) arrests

9. Study Respondents • Diverse set of families capture a range of experiences • 85 families and 190 children • Average length of time in U.S.: 9 years • More than a third had been in the country 10 years or longer, another third between 5 and 10 years, and the remainder less than 5 years • Arrested Parents Countries of Origin: • Mexico (46); • Guatemala (19); • Other Central and South America (11) • Haiti (9)

10. Source:Urban Institute surveys of families in study sites

11. Family Well-Being • Changes in economic hardship • Lost employment and income • All arrestees had worked full-time (mean $8.95/hr) • Difficulty paying bills • Housing instability • Crowded housing • Frequent moves • Loss of home ownership • Food Insecurity

12. Lost Employment and Income BEFORE ARREST “Everything was going well. I was in school, I had a good job, I had a magazine called Contigo, money coming in and going out, I owned a three-bedroom house, I paid my bills, I had a car. Everything was good.” AFTER ARREST “They didn’t forbid me to work, or release me with any provisions, but, in truth, I don’t have a way to work anymore. I’m afraid that immigration will grab me.” “You want to look for work, everybody knows already that you got picked up, and so they are all afraid and no one wants to give you work, because you, even though you’re afraid, go out to look and everyone closes their doors to you.”

13. Lost Employment & Income

14. Housing Instability LOST HOMES [41% moved within 2 months; 59% doubled up] “I can’t, I don’t have a place to…for them to be with me right now.” She was only able to see her sons a couple of times a week. “Sunday is my day off so I see them from two to eight, eight thirty. And then between the week I go and see them for a couple of hours because they live [here] and I leave [there] and you know with all the gas prices I barely have money for gas to take me to work” FREQUENT MOVES [59% doubled up] “He left because, since I have an [ankle] bracelet and supposedly they’ve been calling a lot and are going to come and check on me, I imagine he had to have thought ‘It’s better if I go.’ And I told him, ‘It’s OK. I don’t want to put you in a bad position.’

15. Food Hardship

16. Food Hardship • “The kids have a lot of problems because sometimes I have five dollars for whole week and the kids only have noodles and the kids will only eat noodles. And I’ll buy a gallon of water and they’ll drink water and just go to bed like that.”  • “It was really hard because since then, we’ve been here but it isn’t easy at all because we can’t work and I would like to work and, well, so that my daughters can have what they ask for because … Now we don’t buy … fruit, yogurt, and all those things. We don’t buy [them] because … we can [only] buy the necessities.” • “Up until now, the boys—we, as adults, well, I—the truth, yes, I’ve endured, well, sometimes I haven’t eaten, um, one day, two days, for the same reason that I’ve had to reduce my expenses, but we try to manage so the boys … don’t go through that.”

17. Coping Strategies & Assistance Sources • Assistance from family and friends • Assistance from local churches and community organizations • Household employment after parental arrests • Back pay and assistance from former employers • Public assistance

18. Public Assistance

19. Source:Urban Institute surveys of families in study sites

20. Child Behavior: Short Term • A majority of children exhibited changes in eating, sleeping and crying (often changed in tandem) • More than half of children cried or felt afraid • Anxious, withdrawn, clingy, and aggressive behavior were frequent but less common • Children separated from parents or whose parents were arrested at home experienced more severe effects

21. Source:Urban Institute surveys of families in study sites

22. Child Behavior: Long Term • Child behavioral changes remained relatively high but did not intensify for most children • Some children seemed to adjust somewhat in the longer term • Approximately one third of all children experienced 4 or more changes • Withdrawal and aggression were especially persistent among children separated from parents for long periods

23. Children’s Responses • Longer family separations associated with more acute and continuing children’s behavior changes • Home raids, particularly where parents witnessed parent’s arrest particularly traumatic • Fear of immigration officials a source of anxiety for some • Frustration can result in externalizing behavior • Though rare, a few regressed in some areas of development • Children adjusted with support from at home and at school (in cases overcoming missed school days and behavior issues)

24. Parent Mental Health(Short Term)

25. Parent Mental Health(Long Term)

26. Parental Mental Health • “It is a striking blow because we came here to work and make something for our family. But right now it is sincerely like we failed. …I feel hopeless because it’s very expensive on your own. Without money, without a job, and, I feel desperate because my children say, ‘mommy, I need this’ and I can’t give it to them … When we were both here, well, I felt really comforted because at least … we’d worked, but we knew that we could give our children what’s necessary. But, like this, not anymore … there’s no way out, the children are always asking for things.”

27. Parental Mental Health • “Well, the truth is that my nerves have always been with me—nerves, anguish—I think we all have them, a little bit sometimes and sometimes you try to find a way to be calm. Sometimes you can’t even sleep. I think that … I’m never going to be thinking about things calmly [or] positively, but instead I am [always] thinking, , ‘what’s going to happen, when are they going to send me a letter, what am I going to do with my children? Am I going to send them away? … I don’t want to be apart from them. I’m going to suffer like when I left them.’ The day goes by and the days go by, and your mind is always working; the nerves; the anguish.”

28. Policy Recommendations CHANGES TO RESPONSE EFFORTS AND SERVICES TO AFFECTED FAMILIES AND CHILDREN • Ensure schools and early childhood programs receive early alerts from ICE and local law enforcement • Trusted community actors should educate parents about enforcement protocols and changes • Child welfare agencies should consider avenues to protect and advance the interests of children affected by enforcement operations • Trusted community institutions should coordinate legal and humanitarian assistance • NGOs, alongside governments, should consider strategies for coordinating health and education services for citizen children who cross back and forth between nations as a result of parental deportation

29. Promising Practices • NGOs and churches coordinate timing of food banks, donations, and other forms of humanitarian assistance • Families apply for multiple forms of public benefits for eligible household members at the same time (food stamps, cash assistance, medical insurance) • Schools can help families regain a routine and have a safe space • School officials, teachers and parents prepare “power of attorney” forms and passports for children of immigrants as precaution • Local housing authorities use state and local funding to house separated families affected by immigration enforcement • Reunite children and parents as quickly as possible • Family-based counseling (bilingual, bicultural) most effective, especially if school-based • Parents receiving emotional support from various sources fare better

30. Relevance for Virginia Since March 2009, local jurisdictions have collaborated with federal immigration authorities through “Secure Communities” • Over 390,000 fingerprint submissions by local VA jails • Less than 5% of VA submissions result in federal data match • 1/6 of VA matches involve the “worst of the worst” • 2,892 VA removals via Secure Communities • 1/4 of VA removals are non-criminals (fugitive, removal, other) • 121 VA immigrants have been removed for entering “without inspection” EWI, violating or overstaying visas [USA = 8,080] Source: http://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/sc-stats/nationwide_interoperability_stats-fy2011-to-date.pdf

31. Relevance for Virginia • Research on the effects of local ordinances suggests: • Working age men are most likely to leave and stay away • Families with school-age children are most likely to stay • Culture of fear motivates immigrants to stay under the radar • Implications for local communities • Quiet streets don’t mean all is well; people may be hiding • Schools may see spillover from neighboring communities • Families with school-age children need safe spaces • Sources: Sturtevant, 2010 [contact Juan for copy]; Guterbock et al. [2010] http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/13188.pdf

32. Questions to Ask • How do you get to/from work (or school)? • Driving (carpools, rides); Walking; Bike; Public transport • Who goes to the market/grocery store? • Where do you keep cash, paychecks? • Have you lost your home or apartment? • Have you moved in with someone? • Who do you confide in? • Which places are safe, and what places do you avoid? • Do you have a meeting place if things go wrong? • How do people know about hot spots? • Do you know what you need in case you have to leave?

33. For more information, contact: • Juan PedrozaUrban InstituteCenter on Labor, Human Services and Population2100 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 • JPedroza@urban.org • For copy of report go to Urban Institute website: • Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of Immigration Enforcement