Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard reacted
to the release of an Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Reportregarding
the annual deportation of parents of U.S. citizens. The Fiscal Year 2011
Second Semi-Annual Deportation of Parents of U.S.-Born Citizens Reportreveals
that more than 46,000 parents of U.S. children were deported in the 2nd and 3rd
quarters of 2011; 1,500 alone from the Los Angeles area. Congresswoman
Roybal-Allard and other Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Appropriations
Subcommittee requested the report.
«This report is the latest example of
the terrible human toll our broken immigration system is taking on families.
Tearing families apart like this is inhumane and completely unacceptable,»
said Congresswoman Roybal-Allard. «We can’t continue to claim to value
families while deporting parents in the tens of thousands. This must
stop,» Roybal-Allard added.
These deportations have real social and
economic costs. According to a 2011 report by the Applied Research Center, more
than 5,000 children living in foster care have parents who were detained or
deported from the United States.
ICE is in the process of implementing a new
prosecutorial discretion policy which takes into account family ties in making
deportation decisions.
“I believe it is critical that the new
guidelines are interpreted as generously as possible by agency officials to
prevent even more families from being torn apart,” said Congresswoman
Roybal-Allard.
