Support the Child Citizen Protection Act (HR 1176)

Last week Priska announced during one of the AUGC rehearsals that there was an event taking place at the downtown Federal Plaza, and they needed some members of the gospel choir to lead a few songs. Since I missed Danielle’s church service and Char’s one-time performance at her church, I thought this was my chance at doing a little out-of-school AUGC event…

We were told we had to “lead”… so we didn’t need a lot of people to go, so we ended up with a trio (Priska, Regina, and myself). I didn’t realize that the “event” was a protest against current immigration laws. The three of us felt a little out of place, but (luckily) there was a pastor who eased our transition into the protest. At first, we thought it was kind of odd that they wanted us to sing gospel music at an occasion like that, but everyone was really nice and some actually joined us while we were singing.

Anyway, the Child Citizen Protection Act. I’ve never heard of it before, which is sad since I’m an immigrant (well, officially a citizen now), but regardless… it’s a controversial bill that allows immigration judges to consider the best interests of American citizen children before deporting a parent. The protestors had different individuals testify about their experiences with the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and they had several kids talk about how they’re deprived of a “real” childhood. It was a very emotional type of event and using the kids (I’m sure) was an effective way of attracting attention.

Personally, I have my reservations about supporting a bill like this, because there are many reasons as to why it can be a bad idea. After all, as much as we would want our children to grow up with their parents, we wouldn’t want our children to be used as a shield against the law – if a parent really did commit a crime that justifies deportation… a parental figure may serve just as well as the actual parent. Naturally, the degree of severity for these criminal acts will vary and, hence, therein lies the reason for a “judge’s discretion”. Then again, what does that even mean??

In either case, I’m all for keeping the family together, but what can be done about situations wherein you have a parent who really should be deported? Should we consider age and health in the process of deciding whether or not some of these people should be sent home? How can we really know that a judge would know what’s best for a child’s future?

To support HR 1176

You can call Senator Hillary Clinton @ (212) 688.6262 || (202) 224.4451
or you can try Senator Charles Schumer @ (518) 431.4070 || (631) 753.0978

If you can’t get through, because the line is busy – get in touch with Familes for Freedom.