Confused

There are lots of opinions on illegal immigrants and so on, but I read this article in the paper today about the problem of so many children of illegals being American citizens for being born here, and that if the parents are deported, they either have to take the children or leave them, but can’t stay with them. It’s actually probably more complicated than that and the article was about lawsuits and the supreme court and all that, but here’s my confusion. You know as an illegal person in the US, that your child will be born a citizen and that you may get deported.

So why do it? Okay, I know why. To give your kid a hope of a better life and the benefits of being a US citizen. However, you know you’re taking a big risk. That you could be deported. That this question will come up sooner or later. So in this article there was a lot of gnashing of teeth and lamenting and so on, which I get, because these people are used to living here, mostly have been good citizens and hard working, and often fill out our labor force in important ways. They may have been here for decades and there’s nothing in Mexico or wherever they are from to go back to.

At the same time, this is the law and it hasn’t changed for a really long time. Surely they knew it could happen. Surely they had a plan of action? Or did they just hope for the best? That the laws would change? That’s what confuses me. What do they do to prepare for the eventuality that they’ll be caught and deported? It’s the parent in me wondering here. Also because I’m updating my will and we were talking about godparents, since there have been changes since the last time we put that in (divorces and remarriages and family fights and so on). This brings up the concern of how would our kids be cared for if we were no longer around.

Anyhow, that’s what’s been running through my mind today.

One Comment

  • MaryW

    Our oldest son was born in France. He had the right to French citizenship if he lived there for”X” years before age 15 and completed the mandatory national service. He did not live there for the required period of time and lost the “right”.

    Our second son was born in Canada and has been considered a Canadian citizen since his birth. We left when he was 18 month old and moved back when he was 13. He was the only member of the family who did not need a visa.

    Our youngest was born in the States.