Torn Apart by Deportation, Families Struggle to Stay Together

In recent months, the Obama administration has announced plans to expand the 287(g) program despite widespread abuses and racial profiling. It's also pouring money into "Secure Communities," a program that puts immigration agents into local jails. Meanwhile, more beds are being added to the vast and notoriously flawed detention system.

The White House officially put immigration reform on the back burner at the same time that they're heating up enforcement tactics on the side.

Families are being torn apart by deportation at the treacherous intersection of immigration enforcement and the criminal justice system. ColorLines went on the road from the US to Jamaica to report their stories.

In Kingston, Jamaica, Marlene Brown labors tirelessly with the Family Unification and Resettlement Initiative, also known as FURI, an organization that helps ease the adjustment of deportees who arrive on Department of Homeland Security's weekly charter flights into Norman Manley International Airport.

Brown was deported herself, after being found guilty by association when her boyfriend at the time was caught driving her car with drugs inside. She's been gone for three years now and longs daily to be back with her two sons who are growing up without her.

Since her deportation, Brown's older son graduated from West Point, and her younger son from high school. She was absent for both ceremonies.

All her fire to change the future for other families, if not for her own, is poured into counseling newly deported people to help them find footing in a country many have not seen since their childhood and where they have nobody.

Obama's enforcement tactics, taken from Bush's toolbox, exacerbate a law passed back in 1996, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Individual Responsibility Act. With the bill's passage, any non-citizen, even if they've lived in the U.S. for almost their entire lives and have families, homes and businesses to worry about, are vulnerable to detention and deportation if they come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Deportation is now the mandatory result of a long list of convictions including many low level misdemeanors, overwhelmingly for drugs.

According to the Schriro report commissioned by Homeland security, 60 percent of the 380,000 people who have already been placed in immigration custody this year were sent there by state and local police and jails. Meanwhile, the report finds that two-thirds of those picked up by local police under 287(g) had committed no crime.

Families of color are hit the hardest because the criminal justice system targets Black and brown communities, profiling, arresting and locking up far more people of color than whites as a proportion of the total population.

Families are in crisis.

In Washington, D.C., Yvonne Johnson's house is at risk of slipping into foreclosure since wiring all her disposable income, of which there was almost none, to her son Christopher in Kingston. Christopher Johnson, who turned 40 this year, was deported to Kingston this summer and has no family who will take him in. His mother worries that he will become homeless. She has good reason to be concerned. Her son is mentally disabled and stays for the time being in a temporary shelter on the outskirts of the Jamaican capital. He has no idea where he is going to go and fears joining the hundreds of deportees who end up living under bridges.

In Jamaica and in the US, families are organizing for more fair policies while they support each other after deportation's blow.

In New York, Kathy McArdle is an active member of Families for Freedom, a network of families who have faced the trauma of deportation. Four years ago her partner Calvin was deported. Having lost the family's main breadwinner, she and their now 11-year-old son Josh live in a homeless shelter. McArdle's partner Calvin James lives a solitary life in Jamaica, where he works a series of contingent jobs and longs to be with his family.

Families for Freedom is organizing around the Child Citizen Protection Act, which would give discretion back to immigration judges in instances when a person facing deportation has children. The act is a simple solution to avoid the devastating collateral effects of deportation.

As we wait for immigration reform, the Obama Administration quietly bolsters its immigration enforcement agenda. The effects of this are wrecking lives and families of color will continue to be leveled.

Congress should immediately terminate the 287(g) and "Secure Communities" programs. Meanwhile, Congress should pass the Child Citizen Protection Act to keep families together.

Our families hold us up. We must rectify the harmful policies that tear them down.

Julianne Hing is co-editor of the ColorLines magazine blog, RaceWire, and assistant editor of ColorLines magazine. Seth Wessler is a writer and Research Associate with Applied Research Center. They coauthored a ColorLines magazine investigative series on families torn apart by deportation from New York to Jamaica. The Torn Apart article series and multimedia project is available at http://www.colorlines.com/tornapart.

This piece was co-authored by Seth Wessler and Julianne Hing and is cross posted on racewire.org.

 

 

Comments

[Johnniedog]

The entire truth about Families being torn apart by Deportation simply boils down to this: Whos fault is it? Answer: It is the fault of the illegals!! They knew they were here illegally...they should have thought about how they would be affected and about what this would do to their Families..­..PERIOD!!

It is not the fault of immigration or the people of America or our policies and laws.

[fallingsky]

the way this reads , these are legal immigrants who were screwed by our system ,,,, Now, why can't our elected legislators pass a bill TO RECTIFY,,, Doesn't have to be the all encompassing Immigration reform , but address the issues,,,,, They sure as hell can get 100s of millions in earmarks

[Arlene M. Roberts - Huffpost Blogger]

Unfortunately, this situation is not unique to Jamaica, but is prevalent throughout the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean. Earlier this month I released my report, "The Faces of Detention and Deportation: A Report on the Forced Repatriation of Immigrants from the English-speaking Caribbean" http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/the_faces_of_detention_and_deportation.pdf The document was uploaded along with my open letter to President Obama addressing the deportation of Caribbean nationals: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arlene-m-roberts/open-letter-to-president_b_322932.html

[Rubiconski]

A very sad and tragic situation.

When you steal all the resources and install slave wages in Latin American countries through free trade agreements people are forced to find work elsewhere....here.

It's natural for people to migrate where the resources are....borders can't stop it.

Punishing these families for our own greed is wrong.

We need humane solutions NOW!

[iridium53]

If they can't do the time, then they shouldn't do the crime. Period.

Every country has a right to set immigration policies.

Sad story.

But what about the victims of the crimes? I don't see much compassion for them here.

[Rubiconski]

They ARE the victims of the crime.

[AnnfromCA]

I can't imagine risking this by coming here without proper papers. I really can't imagine putting my family at risk by associating with drugs.

It's sad, but these are really big mistakes people have made.

[brooklyncitizen]

You did not WATCH the clip.

These are non-citizens, which INCLUDES legal residents as in the case of the Jamaican man who grew up in the US and lived here since age 12.

[brooklyncitizen]

THESE ARE LEGAL RESIDENTS.
GOOGLE GREEN CARDS.

[nee]

Legal residents that are non-citizens. If you break our laws and you are here legally you can still be deported.

[randyjet]

The fact is that the US has deported naturalized US citizens for committing crimes for a long time. Remember all the Mafia guys who were deported back in the 50s? They were LEGAL immigrants, AND US citizens to boot, yet they were deported. So it is no surprise that those who are here illegally or have committed a felony get to go back to their home country.

The article is not quite truthful when it states that over two thirds of the deportees have committed NO crime. The FACT is that they were arrested for being suspected of criminal activities which is why they are locked up in the first place. They have accepted deportation rather than face charges and/or conviction for those crimes. If I were in their place, I would take a plane ride home over serious prison time.

[rbtboss]

Why can't there be any kind of discussion about lawful residents without them being confused with illegal aliens? And why can't there be a discussion about illegal aliens without someone intentionally equating them lawful immigrants?
This article is about an issue concerning lawful residents, but the author himself confuses the issue by bringing up immigration reform, which for the most part is understood to address the problem of illegals.

[CognitoErgoSum]

There is no information in the article to state those deported were here illegally. These people were deported because they possibly violated a condition of their residency, which otherwise, might have been perfectly legal. Was woman was deported because her boyfriend was caught driving her car with drugs in it. I don't know that it was ever proven that the drugs were hers, so she seems to have been deported on circumstanial evidence.

[rbtboss]

They are legal residents. The lady would have had to have a conviction for a controlled substance offense. The circumstances surrounding the conviction are not necessarily of concern in immigration proceedings. It is assumed that she has had her day in court.

[maat]

I'm a tolerant person, but sorry - if you enter this country illegally then you should be prepared for the consequences of that action.

[rbtboss]

Wrong board. No one says they entered illegally.

[brooklyncitizen]

THESE ARE LEGAL RESIDENTS.
GOOGLE GREEN CARDS.

[D0gb3rt]

I'm a tolerant person. I'm just not well read and don't understand explicit subtleties.

[dissentisgood]

What a waste of time and resources to separate these families. You know there's something wrong when banks orchestrate a scheme to make hundreds or thousands of people loose their homes and their savings and walk free, but take a dad away from his wife and child because he smoked a joint. We need change.

[chatoyant vermilion]

I agree. I see a lot of people commenting here who seem to confuse legal with illegal immigration and seem awfully sympathetic toward these draconian measures toward immigrants.

[serena1313]

I'm with both of you.

Iam absolutely astounded by the insensitive way immigrants are being characterized, as if they are not human beings and the indifference to the plight of families being torn-apart.

Apparently they forgot that our ancestors immigrated here were also criminals.

[beyondliberal]

Good job, nee.
Illegal means "illegal". Illegal aliens should consider what potentially will happen if they have children in the US, given the threat of deportation at any time, long before they have them.
I'm sick and tired of paying taxes for aliens crowding emergency rooms to obtain routine medical care. An ER visit typically runs over $600 for non-emergent care. Free clinics are free, and a trip to a primary care doc is about $60-$100. Why use ER's when primary care is available elsewhere? Ever wonder why America doesn't have universal coverage? It's because we don't have the money when we have to pay for illegals' ER visits.
I'm sick and tired of my tax dollars going to educate the children of illegal aliens while our schools' quality is tanking. My kids lose out because of larger class sizes, cuts in programs, and poor salaries for educators. All this despite the fact enrollment is diminishing for children of US citizens and LEGAL aliens.
I'm sick and tired of the struggle and delays it takes for LEGAL immigrants to navigate the immigration process, while law-breakers continue to stream across our borders.

[unite4change]

I don't think anyone locked you family up when they came into this country. Latino along with the Native owned America. They have as much right as anyone to be here.

I don't see anyone or hear of anybody locking up white immigrants in this country, according to you, illegally.

[lungfish]

People are free to immigrate to America, they do it all the time. What they aren't free to do is jump the border or outstay their visa, use stolen ID, work for illegal employers, have families and then expect the system to change to accommodate them and their families, their language, etc...

They would have us believe that if I move to another country, illegally, stay and raise a family, and get caught at it, that I should rewarded and become a citizen in good standing right next to those who obeyed the law and earned their citizenship the correct way.

The idea that the Western expansion is illegal is debateable but the idea that there is an accounting to be had is ludicrous. Every country on the planet was established through the use and abuse of power. Nobody should live anywhere by that logic. Even the Native Americans had wars and took lands from each other...

[Ldsr]

"Latino along with the Native owned America"

Meh, thats a reach. North and South America certainly had indigneous populations. Would I classify them as latino, no.

Yeah, White people took those continents. No they didn't steal them. They took them.
Oh well, that really sucked for Native Americans. Was it "right", nah not really.

Nonetheless here we are. The question is where do we go.

The right thing to do would have all the Europeans go back to Europe, all the Blacks go back to Africa and the Latinos go, I don't know, what Spain? That would include those wacky Canadians also. No free lunch for them.

Then the Native Americans, whats left of em anyways, can have thier country back. Well untill the Russians or Chinese come over here and take it from them. But they would have it back for a little bit.

Or, perhaps an alternative. What could that be? A rhetorical question.

I will tell you one thing, White people are rapidly running out of patience playing silly games. Smarten up.

You have an unbelievable opportunity, don't screw it up. If you do screw it up, don't whine about it. Nobody likes a whiner.

[nee]

"Families of color are hit the hardest because the criminal justice system targets Black and brown communities, profiling, arresting and locking up far more people of color than whites as a proportion of the total population. "

What do you mean "the criminal justice system targets Black and Brown communities"? Do you think that it might be that there are a lot more black and brown people committing crimes? Do you think it might have to do with the fact that more black and brown people are ILLEGAL ALIENS?

All ILLEGAL ALIENS should be deported. If a LEGAL immigrant commits a crime they should be deported.

[brooklyncitizen]

There are two groups of immigrants that have strong criminal activities and are not targetted as other brown communities: Russians and Chinese.

Ask NYPD about their crime activitiy especially the Russians who have trashed many great Brooklyn neighborhoods Brighton Beach, Coney Islan...there are also many eastern europeans like Romanians and Polish who have also brought a criminal/trash element . The Chinese "mafia" is involved in criminal activity as varied as human trafficking and drugs.

[nee]

All ILLEGAL ALIENS need to be deported no matter where they come from. All LEGAL immigrants who break our laws should be DEPORTED too.