Gapers Block has ceased publication.

Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
 Thank you for your readership and contributions. 

TODAY

Tuesday, March 19

Gapers Block
Search

Gapers Block on Facebook Gapers Block on Flickr Gapers Block on Twitter The Gapers Block Tumblr


The Mechanics
« How D.C. Public Transit Will Go Open Fare and Keep Their Version of the Chicago Card Berrios Slings Mud at Guzzardi »

Op-Ed Mon Feb 17 2014

Undocumented in Illinois Overwhelmingly Live in Families

imgres.jpgImagine that you were born in the Chicago area. You were raised here, went to school here, and you see Chicago as your home. This is true for me, and I am guessing many readers. Then imagine that, through no fault of your own, one or both of your parents is undocumented. You are forced to live with a constant fear that one of your parents could be taken away from you at any time and your family could be wrenched apart. Then one day, your mother or father is gone with no warning--deported to a place you may have never even visited.

This might also be true for some readers; and it is precisely this everyday reality that is revealed as all too common through a report recently released by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. [Editor's note: The author of this piece is currently interning with the ICIRR.] The report, Illinois' Undocumented Immigrant Population: A Summary of Recent Research by Rob Paral and Associates, reveals the extent to which undocumented immigrants in Illinois are deeply integrated into families and communities, and thus the extent of our population that immigration reform would truly impact.

The report, authored by Fred Tsao, analyzes data from Rob Paral and Associates, and contains many useful facts about undocumented immigrants in Illinois. However, what I found most compelling about the report was its statistics on families. Perhaps surprisingly, about 54 percent of the undocumented population in Illinois live in suburbs of Chicago, and another 36 percent live in Chicago proper. Around 7 percent of the population of Chicago, and 4 percent of the state is undocumented. This is already a significant portion, but the numbers become even more striking once the statistics on families are taken into account.

Around 90 percent of undocumented immigrants in Illinois and Chicago live in family households. In Chicago 12 percent of family households, and 6 percent throughout Illinois, include at least one undocumented immigrant. Of the family households in Chicago that include an undocumented person, 90 percent are mixed status (meaning one or more family member has legal immigration status or is a citizen) and 79 percent have at least one native born member. This means that 886,000 residents of Illinois have at least one undocumented family member.

Additionally, in 55 percent of married couples in Illinois where one spouse is undocumented, the other has lawful immigration status or is a U.S. citizen. One hundred forty-five thousand families with children, or 36 percent of immigrant families with children in Illinois, have at least one undocumented parent. Of these immigrant families, 74 percent include only native-born children.

Each one of these statistics represents real people and real families. Yet as deportations have reached an unprecedented high under the Obama Administration, deportations within Illinois have naturally spiked as well. As of December 2013, the Obama Administration had deported 1.9 million immigrants.

The statistics in ICIRR's report have critical implications for immigration reform. While the human rights violations of undocumented immigrants on their own should be enough to spur changes to our immigration system, the paper clearly shows how immigration reform and stopping deportations are vital to not just the undocumented themselves. As human beings, we are intrinsically tied to our loved ones, and what happens to us cannot be viewed in isolation. As author Tsao argues:

Illinois' undocumented immigrants live predominantly in mixed-status families, often with a U.S. citizen spouse or child. This finding is contrary to the common image of undocumented immigrants as single and unattached. On the contrary, undocumented immigrants have strong equities in this country, a fact that provides a powerful argument against enforcement policies that separate these immigrants from their lawfully present spouses and children.

In the near future, as we continue to debate, and hopefully pass immigration reform, the reality faced by families in our own community must be at the center of the discourse around the issue. All people are equally human and deserve equal human rights. When families are torn apart by deportation, they are destabilized and subject to poverty and emotional, psychological and physical hardship. Children who were born in our city and state are forced to deal with pain and shoulder responsibilities no child should be subject to. A full 12 percent of Chicago families, or 145,000 families with children throughout Illinois, are currently left open to the threat that their loved ones could be deported at any time--passing immigration reform and stopping deportations truly cannot wait.

 
GB store

Joe James / February 17, 2014 11:49 AM

Of course the children should be deported with the parents. The only reason that they are listed as US Citizens, is because the parents came into this county ILLEGALLY while they are pregnant and then continued to have more children while here, usually at the cost of the American people. The law that makes anyone born in this country a citizen is very wrong and needs to be repealed. It is one of the hugh draws for ILLEGALS and should be repealed retroactively. Your constant calling of them as 'undocumented' is an insult to every single person who immigrated to this country legally. Do you call rapists 'undocumented lovers'? A crime is a crime and rewarding a criminals encourages more criminals.

John Doe / February 17, 2014 12:02 PM

Joe, I assume you are of Native American descent. If you are not, then you are a descendant of immigrants.

Joe James / February 17, 2014 12:13 PM

Yes, I am the desendant of legal immigrants. And before they died, they were extremely offended by the last legalization of ILLEGALS. They followed the correct process and found it fair and understandably necessary. And by the way, so called Native Americans are just the desendants of earlier immigrants.

Rusty / February 17, 2014 1:52 PM

John Doe - actually Native Americans and African-Americans (not "immigrants" as you intend the term) are the populations most harmed by illegal immigration. Back in 2006 when this same reform was proposed, many progressives were against it, including Paul Krugman, Thom Hartmann and Michael Linn (then with Mother Jones magazine). Illegal immigration is a complex issue but reflexively repeating the disaster 1986's reform is going to cause far more damage than saving the damage done to these sympathetic families.

PulSe / February 17, 2014 4:21 PM

Deport them all.

El / March 13, 2014 3:02 PM

So "illegal" just wraps it up for you, Joe? Never mind the millions of people suffering every single day because of ignorant pigs like yourself. Deport citizens? Let's start with YOU.

GB store

Feature

Parents Still Steaming, but About More Than Just Boilers

By Phil Huckelberry / 2 Comments

It's now been 11 days since the carbon monoxide leak which sent over 80 Prussing Elementary School students and staff to the hospital. While officials from Chicago Public Schools have partially answered some questions, and CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has informed that he will be visiting the school to field more questions on Nov. 16, many parents remain irate at the CPS response to date. More...

Civics

Substance, Not Style, the Source of Rahm's Woes

By Ramsin Canon / 2 Comments

It's not surprising that some of Mayor Emanuel's sympathizers and supporters are confusing people's substantive disputes with the mayor as the effect of poor marketing on his part. It's exactly this insular worldview that has gotten the mayor in hot... More...

Special Series

Classroom Mechanics Oral History Project
GB store



About Mechanics

Mechanics is the politics section of Gapers Block, reflecting the diversity of viewpoints and beliefs of Chicagoans and Illinoisans. More...
Please see our submission guidelines.

Editor: Mike Ewing, mike@gapersblock.com
Mechanics staff inbox: mechanics@gapersblock.com

Archives

 

 Subscribe in a reader.

GB store

GB Store

GB Buttons $1.50

GB T-Shirt $12

I ✶ Chi T-Shirts $15