Description
Many scholars have written about the controversy of immigration and, while the literature on immigration focuses on many different aspects, children are seldom mentioned in this literature. When children are mentioned, they are not directly focused on, which is problematic considering children are often at the center of the immigration controversy. What are the consequences and implications of children going unaddressed in immigration literature even though they are at the center of the issue? Looking at legislation created after the rise of the modern conservative movement’s anti-immigrant platform as well as presidential debates from the same time period, I studied how the issue of children was framed on a national scale. The events currently occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border have shown that children are too often inadvertent casualties of exclusionary immigration policies that only directly mention these children’s parents. Decades of anti-immigrant policy have created a disregard for the children of immigrants as the public does not understand the scope of how they are affected and the lawmakers do not acknowledge the harm of the laws they are creating. It is important to bring children to the center of immigration research because they are the ones being affected by these exclusionary immigration policies.
Neglect at the U.S.-Mexico Border: How An Incomplete Immigration History Harms Immigrant Children
Many scholars have written about the controversy of immigration and, while the literature on immigration focuses on many different aspects, children are seldom mentioned in this literature. When children are mentioned, they are not directly focused on, which is problematic considering children are often at the center of the immigration controversy. What are the consequences and implications of children going unaddressed in immigration literature even though they are at the center of the issue? Looking at legislation created after the rise of the modern conservative movement’s anti-immigrant platform as well as presidential debates from the same time period, I studied how the issue of children was framed on a national scale. The events currently occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border have shown that children are too often inadvertent casualties of exclusionary immigration policies that only directly mention these children’s parents. Decades of anti-immigrant policy have created a disregard for the children of immigrants as the public does not understand the scope of how they are affected and the lawmakers do not acknowledge the harm of the laws they are creating. It is important to bring children to the center of immigration research because they are the ones being affected by these exclusionary immigration policies.