Generation 1.5: The Effects of U.S. Immigration Policy on Children

This paper addresses the current and historical consequences of U.S. immigration policy on minor children, especially in cases where their citizenship status differs from that of one or both of their parents or is irregular.  The United States is one of a decreasing number of liberal democratic countries with jus soli rights---those born within a national territory are automatically granted citizenship.  But mixed status families are especially vulnerable when one or both parents face deportation.  Other immigrant children who arrive as infants or young children, share their parents’ immigration status, whether regular or irregular.  The last situation has recently spurred Congress to consider the bipartisan-sponsored “DREAM” Act that would enable certain high school students who arrived in the U.S. as children a conditional path to residency to attend and finance college despite their irregular (undocumented) status.

This paper also examines the immigration policy which presumed that an immigrant minor shared his or her mother’s citizenship status, to a more gender-neutral one.  That shift occurred partly in response to children whose fathers were U.S, soldiers stationed abroad in the post-World War II era. Other issues addressed include: transnational adoptions and immigrant families facing the exclusion of one child based on a medical condition.  Finally, it will address the implications of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIR) that expanded the retroactive feature of deportation policy.  This law led to efforts to deport non-citizens for legal violations, including shoplifting or vandalism, during their adolescence or youth.  Some deportees found themselves separated from their U.S. citizen children and spouses, and without language proficiency or a support network in their countries of origin. Analyzing how children have been affected by immigration policies illuminates much about American attitudes toward immigration, social norms, rights, citizenship, and incorporation.