Strollerderby : illegal immigrants

Kids Ask Obama to Let Their Mother Back in the Country

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:39:00 GMT

Three Minnesota children have set out on a long journey to the White House in hopes of being reunited with their mother. The Zamudio children—aged 9, 11, and 12—recently lost their mother after she was sent back to Mexico because her work visa had expired.

After Mario Guadalupe Zamudio was first deported, her U.S.-born children returned with her to Mexico, but they could not keep up in school because their lessons were not conducted in English. So they moved back to the States six months ago and have been living with an aunt since then.

The arrangement is intolerable to all three children, and they are turning to the President and First Lady for help. Yesterday night, they packed up their aunt’s van and drove through the night to Washington D.C., where they plan to hold posters and deliver letters, asking the Obamas to let their mother back into the U.S. Lalo, the oldest, said, "We want to ask Obama to help us bring our mom back ‘cause we need her. We are just kids.”

It’s impossible to estimate the exact number of U.S.-born children who lose a parent to deportation each year, but researchers say it is at least in the high thousands. In many cases, the loss of a breadwinner means that the remaining single parent is forced to seek government assistance to put food on the table.

Though immigration officials try to find care for children who are left without a guardian, the law mandates that breaking up families is not a factor in the decision to deport immigrants.

Photo: kare11.com

10-Year-Old Gives Birth in Idaho

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:13:00 GMT

This is a story with so many tragic layers that there’s really nothing to report but the sad facts: An Idaho girl, just a child herself at 10-years-old, delivered a six-pound baby by C-section. The alleged father, 37-year-old Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, has been charged with rape and is being held in county jail. The girl, who was 9-years-old when she became pregnant, may have had a medical condition that caused her to have an unusually early onset of puberty. Police only became aware of the situation after the girl went to a doctor's office for treatment the day before she gave birth. Very little information is being released about the young mother, who is in state custody along with her baby.

Reading a story like this, I have to remind myself of the almost miraculous resiliency of the human spirit. Both the 10-year-old and her baby are in good health, and it is not naive to hope that they will one day lead healthy, happy lives.

In another sad twist to the story, Gutierrez-Juarez is a suspected illegal immigrant, so that some Web commentators have seized on this tragedy to call for tougher immigration laws. Whatever one’s beliefs on legislating immigration, let’s hope that reason prevails in this case, and one horrific event is not used to make blanket characterizations about the millions of immigrants living peacefully in the U.S.

Photo: localnews8.com

Political Nanny: Mike Huckabee's Resurrection

Madeline Holler — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:11:00 GMT

Is this the second coming of Mike Huckabee? If so, expect him to descend from on high in 2 days, 16 hours, 6 minutes and 12 seconds ... or less.

He's launching Huck PAC, a political action committee that will support conservative candidates. He says this includes support of John McCain. No word on continuing the call to tinker with the Constitution as he was once so interested in doing.

Political Nanny confesses to missing little Mikey, not for his political insight or "fair" tax promises, but for his humor, charm and willingness to defend poor people and children of undocumented workers. Watching the McCain has made the Republican playgroup rather dry.

Immigrant Raid Separates Children from Parents

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:32:00 GMT

A Massachusetts garment factory raid separated many children from their parents earlier this month, according to a Washington Post report. 360 illegal immigrants were flown to a Texas detention center after a federal raid at Michael Bianco Inc outside of Boston. Many detainees were not allowed to notify friends and family of their whereabouts until several days later.

Though the agents involved claimed they made arrangements for children left behind, MA Governor Deval Patrick, described the raid's aftermath as an "humanitarian crisis" and demanded a fix to the "broken immigration system."

In response to the outcry against them, immigration officials began to send single parents home, or if they had arrested both parents, to release one, but several children still remain in the care of non-parent caregivers. The tragic state of affairs that results in the breaking up of families where the parents may be illegal immigrants, but whose children are born in the States, is exemplified by the effects of the raid in MA. Until a better system is devised to care for the small children citizens in this country, similar tragedies will most likely occur again.

Kids, Babies Stranded When Feds Raid Sweatshop, Detain Illegal Workers

Alisyn — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 14:02:00 GMT

Dozens of young children and babies were stranded at schools and with babysitters Tuesday, after the F.B.I. raided a factory suspected of hiring illegal workers, in New Bedford, Mass.

Over 300 employees — mostly women — of Michael Bianco Inc., were detained and are facing possible deportation. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick expressed concern for the Guatemalan community in his state, and hopes the letter he wrote to U.S. Rep. William Delahunt will ensure that federal authorities allow social workers access to the detainees, who are mostly from Guatemala and El Salvador.

Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, says there are as many as 100 children and infants who are without their mothers, and that the C.E.D.C. is working with social service officials and community activists, to find families willing to help care for some of the children left without care.

The Feds insist, however, that no children were left stranded, and that they have released as many as60 detainees for humanitarian reasons, most related to child care issues. Spokesman Marc Raimondi said those still in custody were given the option of letting their children stay with a guardian or putting them in state care. Which begs the question - what if these kids have no other "guardian?" If they are lucky enough to have one, how is s/he supposed to support the family now that s/he cannot work?

You want to know what the worst part of this story is? No, it's not the fact that several breastfeeding infants were left motherless; not the fact that several preschoolers want to know why police took Mama away; not the fact dozens of children are being forced to live with families they don't know - who don't even speak their language. No - far and away, the most sickening part of this story is that the women being detained, and possibly deported, were working in sweatshop conditions, so that their boss, Francesco Insolia, could meetthe terms of his contract with the U.S. military — worth $91 million.