Liv Conte

Ms. Jordan

English 9

22 February 2021

America: An Immigrant Child’s Worst Nightmare

The Rio Grande, the river border between Mexico and the U.S, is fed by an endless

stream of immigrant tears. Hundreds of thousands of migrants try to cross the river on tiny rafts

onto U.S. soil every year. A terrifying experience for human beings of every age. Immigrating

from Central America is no easy trip, thousands of miles on train or bus encountering border

patrol agents, corrupt police, gangsters, drug cartel workers, and sexual predators. Generations of

children have survived the dangers of illegal border crossing and countless other children have

died.

For the children who are lucky enough to reach U.S soil, their problems are far from

over. Stories flood in from news sources about kids being deported, some even as babies or

toddlers. One New York Times article depicts the story of a young boy named Gerson who was

deported at age ten, his mother kissing him a teary goodbye at the border saying, “Be good”. His

mother, Sandra Rodríguez didn't hear from her son for six days until she received a call from her

sister in Honduras saying that she had custody of him. When she spoke to Gerson on the phone,

she said that he was “Crying and disoriented… he seemed confused about how he had ended up

back in the dangerous place he fled.” Gerson had never seen a lawyer or social worker and was

not allowed to seek asylum. He had no idea what his rights were or what was happening…

because he was only a child. ​We, as Americans, should be more conscious of the harm that

harsh immigration policy has on our children. As a developed, wealthy country we should
protect our children first, and do a much better job shielding them from harsh immigration policy

and deportation.

For the last four years, the United States government under the Trump administration has

made the lives of migrant children a living hell. A study by NYU shows that “In the United

States, 18 million or one in four children live with at least one immigrant parent.”-“Twenty-eight

percent of all children of immigrants — 5.3 million children and youth — are growing up with

either an undocumented parent or are undocumented themselves.” This shows how much

immigration policy should matter to people living in the United States, and how many people

immigration law affects. The Children’s Partnership compiled these startling statistics about the

negative health effects of the fear of detention and deportation of children and their parents.

California healthcare providers from this study found that there is a 90 percent increase in

children with anxiety who have undocumented immigrant parents, 70 percent experience

depressive symptoms including loss of appetite which is a health risk, and a 50 percent increase

in diagnosed depression and anxiety. Along with these stats, this study concludes with the fact

that 25 percent seek mental health care. This shows that supporting immigrant children will be

beneficial to improving the lives of American society as a whole.

However, a lot of people in the U.S don’t agree with my idea that children should be

protected from a hurtful, strict immigration system. They don’t think any undocumented person

should be protected at all. Former President Donald Trump said in 2015, “I do business with the

Mexican people, but you have people coming through the border that are from all over. And

they’re bad… and I’m not just saying Mexicans, I’m talking about people that are from all over

that are killers and rapists and they’re coming into this country.” This statement is very

misleading. Donald Trump says here in the quote that “bad” immigrants coming from Mexico
and “all over” are bringing in killers and rapists. However, evidence shows that most

undocumented immigrants are not causing violence to society and cause less crime than

documented citizens. Another common opinion from Conservative party members is that

undocumented immigrants cost a lot of taxpayer money- welfare for example. However, the

undocumented pay taxes just like everyone else, especially those enrolled in U.S programs such

as DACA.

Due to the fact that America creates a huge demand market for illegal drugs, most drugs

coming into the U.S From the drug cartels in Central America. We drive the demand, and the

drugs are run straight through central America to the southern US border. As a result, America’s

southern border has been kept under heavy surveillance and the process to enter the country from

Central America has gotten increasingly rigorous. Yes, there is no doubt that some

undocumented immigrants work for a drug cartel or a gang, however, there are way more

innocent people just trying to get away from a nightmare country than there are having a

dangerous agenda to our national security.

Undocumented workers do not threaten our national security. The PNAS organization

says that “We find that undocumented immigrants have substantially lower crime rates than

native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses.” This article

includes data that native-born American citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for

violent crimes. This debunks this theory that we should put a stereotype on Central Americans

who are either undocumented or documented that they are bringing in drugs, rape, and violence

to the United States. To contradict common ideas that immigrants are using taxpayer money,

that’s entirely not true. Firstly, the undocumented are fearful of using government-provided

assistance to get the help they need because of fear of deportation. These are simply stigmas;
there are low cases of immigrants being deported because of seeking help to provide for children

or pay living fees. Secondly, immigrants who are admitted into DACA for example, pay lots of

money in taxes. It was reported by Boundless that, “DACA recipients contribute 8.7B U.SD to

taxes annually.” This just shows that the undocumented immigrants in this country also

contribute to our taxes and economy.

The constant fear of immigrant children is not irrational. According to Scientific

America; during the Trump era, “The Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy led to the

separation of more than 2,500 migrant children from their families in 2017 and 2018.” This is a

horrifying statistic. Imagine being separated from your parents at a time where you couldn’t

make income for yourself or your siblings? Child separation is an incredibly damaging thing to

happen to a child, especially when it’s at the border between a new country. When children are

separated from their parents at the border they are likely to run into a lot of dangerous,

life-threatening experiences.

At our southern border in Mexico, it has been recorded by The Scientific American that

children are made victims of violence, trafficking, and exploitation during their journey to

immigrate and in U.S. custody. The actual detention centers at the border are dangerous, and

they’re controlled by the U.S. Again, The Scientific American reported that “Detention center

conditions—cold, unceasingly lit and lacking proper food and health care—are hostile

environments for children. A recent study of unaccompanied minors in detention found high

levels of violence and physical abuse.” The U.S. government has laid back and let these children

be abused mentally and physically in their hands and we should not sit back as Americans and let

this happen. When I can vote, I will vote to spark change for these children who haven’t been

aided previously.
 If you’re like me, you want to help immigrant children in any way possible with their

hardship. This is more difficult for me at 15 because I can not vote. However, some of you

reading this may be able to make a difference. So, I advise you to be politically active. Read real

news, listen to podcasts, listen to oppressed immigrant voices, be an activist, share your voice

with the world. How you feel and what you say about these topics matter. Don’t propagate

stereotypes and stigmas about immigrants. Be aware of your stereotypical subconscious, and be

willing to change other’s stereotypes as well. It is all of our jobs to help undocumented and

documented immigrants feel treated like native-born Americans.

We have seen dramatic changes in children's mental health, development, and physical

health in children with immigrant parents in this country. We need to support immigrant children

by giving them the mental and physical health support they need and make immigration laws that

don’t affect immigrants that are not a national security threat to this country. Immigrants seeking

asylum come to this country for safer, better opportunities. However, our policy just contradicts

the idea that we are a safe-haven for immigrants and their children in need. We need to protect

children. They are the backbone of our modern society and no matter if they are legal American

citizens or not, we need to protect their childhood at all costs. I know I would want someone to

protect my children and preserve their childhoods. I hope that one day our policy changes and we

can shift back to the idea that America is a beacon of light for immigrants searching for a new

start and an abundance of opportunity.