30 children left behind in Arkansas immigration raid

[rahma]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/30/immigration.arrests.ap/index.html

ARKADELPHIA, Arkansas (AP) -- When immigration authorities raided a poultry plant in Arkansas and took away more than 100 employees to face deportation, some workers were able to call home and arrange care for their children.

But about 30 children, some as young as 3 months, were left behind with no parents after the arrests, officials said.

 

[jamesrwright3]

It's a sad story, but the immigration agents asked them if they had any children and they said no so it's not their fault.
I am sure with the number of people that enter into the country in order to have a baby that becomes a citizen that asking whether or not they have a child is a standard question.

 

[Fantine]

The children of other lawbreakers are very sad when their parents are arrested, too.

I am glad that churches and other relatives came forward to care for the children.

But our nation has a schizophrenic attitude towards illegal immigration. If these lawbreakers enter the country, they shouldn't be able to get drivers licenses. If their pregnant wives come to a hospital to deliver, they should be transported to a hospital over the border by helicopter. Their children shouldn't be permitted to go to school here (unless they themselves were born here or their parents were admitted legallly.)

You may think I'm harsh. I do think that we need to look into more realistic quotas for Mexican-Americans. We should have some amnesty for those who have come many years ago, providing they can prove they paid taxes on their incomes during that time.

But while these lawbreakers cross the border, there are hopeful immigrants in other countries waiting, and waiting, and waiting to get admitted.

I know a wonderful young Vietnamese man who owns a nail salon. He was married for several years, but he had to wait 2 1/2 years until his bride and young son were allowed to enter the United States.

Here he is, following all the rules, working hard, paying taxes, teaching Sunday school to teens at church, and he has to be separated from his wife and child for 2 1/2 years, while he sees lawbreakers all around him....some of the lawbreakers may even be patrons at his nail salon.

I knew another Filipino couple. The husband was a computer programmer. They had to work and save for years and years to bring their children over. The children lived with their grandparents in the Philippines. The wife cried herself to sleep each night. In the meantime, while she worked in the hospital as a nurse, she was probably treating the lawbreakers for free.

Yes, all over the world people are on waiting lists to come to the US legally. The lawbreakers should be treated as such.