Texas is currently facing a pressing issue at its Southern border.
On December 6 of last year, the Texas legislature passed three new “security measure” laws where when someone enters Texas from the Mexico border, they could be arrested and face anywhere between six months and 20 years in prison. President Biden said the policy is to get control of the number of people that cross the border and went on to imply that the federal government has to put immigration enforcement into its own hands, but currently, jurisdiction lies within the individual state of Texas and its leadership, including Governor Greg Abbott.
These new laws have already led to an uptick in reports of discrimination against immigrants. Racial profiling, where people of color are targeted by police as well as immigration officers, is feared to increase according to Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). One of these three laws includes a clause stating if an immigrant has any prior criminal history, a judge or country reserves the right to order the immigrant to return to their port of entry and back to their country without a proper trial or legal counsel, ultimately determining without consideration or representation whether they leave or stay in the state.
In an attempt to “expel” immigrants faster than a proper deportation procedure, over 120 individuals have already been relocated forcefully to Chicago in the short time since Abbott signed the new enforcement into law. This is after Texas border security reportedly sent another 80,000 to high-population cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York City.
This means they can send immigration back to their country because they don’t have a permit to stay. Where they have all the right to make them leave the country because if they don’t follow the law they can get in trouble. They need to follow the law and listen to what the government tells them to do.
Where family members are undocumented and where the police officer doesn’t have the right to see or do anything to them. Because they are undocumented. Where can’t they be questioned or detained? This can cause a lot of damage to their families apart because they can be separated from each other or their children can be separated from their parents. Where the president doesn’t see that it can cause a lot of damage to their health. However, the government doesn’t see that from their point of view. Instead, they are letting children be separated from their families.
“Children shouldn’t be separated from their own families; it can affect their health and well-being,” Juvenal Romero Penaloza (11) said. “This can break a lot of families, they might not know when they are going to see their loved one.”
Separated families are an inevitable result of increased immigration and migration. However, human rights organizations cite numerous easily preventable dangers that migrants face regularly, from high-speed chases to razor wire and rapid waters, all in the name of deporting individuals back to their home country.
“I think that families should not be separated from their children,” Columbia Heights High School (CHHS) Social Studies teacher Mr. Brett Herbers said. “Separation has proven to have adverse effects on the well-being of the child and goes against international human rights treaties, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. These treaties emphasize the importance of keeping families together unless the child is being hurt or neglected by the family.”
It is difficult for experts to pinpoint the precise number of immigrants entering the U.S., but many who have come have done so in search of better possibilities, including employment, education and family reunions.
