friday reflection 25 august 2017

Immigrant facts to ponder
Over the past months, this column has offered both theological reflections on immigration and how we are called to be as a people of God, as well as some options to consider in response. In this article, I’d like to offer some facts to consider about immigrants.

The Pew Research Center published an article entitled “5 facts about illegal immigration in the U.S.” (April 27, 2017), which listed five facts:

1. There were 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2015,
   
   
2. Mexicans may no longer be the majority of U.S. unauthorized immigrants.
   
3. The U.S. civilian workforce includes 8 million unauthorized immigrants, accounting for 5% of those who were working or were unemployed and looking for work,
   
4. Six states account for 59% of unauthorized immigrants: California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.
   
5. A rising share of unauthorized immigrants have lived in the U.S. for at least a decade. 
   

You can read the entire article here: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/.

Another article, “Key Findings about U.S. Immigrants,” can be accessed here http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/03/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/. Among other findings, this article states that about one-fourth (24.5%) of the U.S. foreign-born population is here illegally, with about the same percent (26.6%) in the U.S. legally as permanent residents. Nearly half (44.1%) are naturalized.

The plight of citizen children of undocumented parents is especially dire. The American Immigration Council has published an article on this subject entitled “U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement,” which offers several facts:

1. 4.1 million U.S. citizen children under the age of 18 live with at least one undocumented parent, according to estimates of 2009-2013 census data.
   
   
2. Not surprisingly, Immigration enforcement—and the threat of such actions—can negatively impact a child’s long-term health and development.
   
3. The detention or deportation of a parent puts children at risk of economic instability.
   
4. U.S. citizen children may end up in the child welfare system following the detention or deportation of their parent; and
   
5. U.S. citizen children may end up in the child welfare system following the detention or deportation of their parent.
   

You can access this article here: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/us-citizen-children-impacted-immigration-enforcement.

If you have any questions or contributions, please email me at DeaconNancy@diosanjoaquin.org.

Deacon Nancy