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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

Mass Deportation and The Separation of Families

Fernanda Velazquez

The University of Texas at El Paso

Rhetoric & Writing Studies 1302

Prof. Al-Tabaa
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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

Annotated Bibliography: Mass Deportation and The Separation of Families

In current years, immigration laws have been reaching a “Zero-Tolerance” level that has affected

the lives of many immigrants negatively. Since the Obama administration, and administrations

before, immigration laws have always been enforced and detaining illegal immigrants was not

unusual. However, since the beginning of the Trump administration, these laws have been

practiced in a ruthless manner and have gone as far as to separate young children from their

parents and justifying this cruel behavior by claiming it is “part of the law”. President Trump

recently signed an executive order that halted the separation of families at the border indefinitely,

but that still does not justify the fact that he actively encouraged it in the first place. The

following research questions were chosen in order to further investigate if President Trump

really had the authority to enforce such laws and if they even existed at all in the first place, as he

had claimed.

1. What is The Flores Settlement and how does it relate to the immigration laws that were

being enforced earlier this year?

2. Were children and parents informed as to why they had to be separated when crossing the

border illegally?

3. Were parents able to track their children, have access to information on their

whereabouts, or contact with their children at all while they were separated?

4. What psychological effects could the separation of children from their parents have on

the children?
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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

Reference 1: “U.S. is separating immigrant parents and children to discourage others,

activists say” (retrieved September 22, 2018)

Summary: This article talks about the separation of families and the immigration laws

implemented by president Trump. It contains quotes from people from both sides of the

issue, those who advocate for the laws and those who oppose them. The author takes an

objective look at the policies, but throughout the article also gives signs about which side

she leans toward.

Evaluation: I plan to use this resource to show how much controversy there is around

this on-going immigration issue, because this source contains testimony from people who

agree and those who disagree with these laws.

Cited by: 0

Direct Quotes: 1) "There's not supposed to be blanket detention of people seeking

asylum, but in reality, that's what's happening" (Dylan Corbett, director of Hope Border

Institute)

2) "I didn't know where they were taking him…They didn't tell me. I asked many times.

They just said 'Don't worry.'” (immigrant mother referred to as Jocelyn in text for safety

reasons)

Paraphrase: 1) Immigrants coming into the country illegally can seek for asylum, and

they are allowed a court hearing in order to approve their application. This is not being

done, and immigrants are immediately being persecuted.

2) A direct quote from a mother that entered the country illegally with her 14-year-old

son, who was taken away from her and given no reason as to why they were being

separated.
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Long Quotes: 1) “According to public defenders and immigrant advocates, more and

more immigrant families who come to the southern border seeking asylum are being

charged in federal criminal courts from El Paso to Arizona. Jocelyn was charged with a

misdemeanor, and her son was sent to a shelter in Chicago. Comprehensive statistics do

not exist, but activists and attorneys say anecdotal evidence suggests the practice is

spreading.”

2) “Migrant advocates sued in federal court, arguing that when asylum seekers declare a

fear of returning to their home country, federal law dictates that they be referred to an

asylum officer, even if they crossed the border illegally, and their cases considered by

immigration judges.”

Definition Word: Immigration activists

Reference 2: “Trump’s anti-immigration policies are built on lies” by

bangordailynews.com (retrieved September 22, 2018)

Summary: In this article, the author clearly states their disagreement with the policies

that President Trump imposed on immigrant families and their children. They share a

number of statistics that show that these policies are being justified by false facts and

erroneous information that Trump claims.

Evaluation: I plan to use this source and its statistics to demonstrate that president

Trump is using his own prejudicated views to implement such cruel methods of

separating families.

Cited by: 0

Direct Quotes: 1) “Immigration did not factor into the job loss, the economists found.”
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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

2) “The U.S. unemployment rate is under 4 percent, a number not seen since 2000.”

Paraphrase: Both of these quotes refer to claims that president Trump has made before,

where he said that the great flux of immigrants into the U.S. was the reason why

Americans were unemployed. According to statistics, this information was wrong.

Long Quotes: 1) “U.S. crime rates have been dropping for decades. Overall, the violent

crime ratein the United States was far lower in 2015, the most recent year for which the

Department of Justice has comparable data, than it was in 1993.”

2) “American workers are much more likely to lose their job to a robot or Chinathan

immigrants. University of Maryland economists Katharine Abraham and Melissa

Kearney calculated that trade with China cost the U.S. economy 2.65 million jobs from

1999 to 2016. Research shows that each robot takes the jobs of about 5.6 workers. More

than 250,000 robots had been added to U.S. workplaces since 1999, so the economists

calculated that robots cost the economy another 1.4 million workers.”

Definition word: Trump, prejudice

Reference 3: “President Trump’s Executive Order and The Flores Settlement Explained”

by Refugee’s International (retrieved September 22, 2018)

Summary: This organization’s report explains the executive order president Trump

passed in order to stop family separation and explains the Flores settlement, which seeks

to defend children in situations like these.

Evaluation: I plan to use this source to directly address my first research question

regarding the Flores settlement and how it relates to the immigration laws being enforced

earlier this year.

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Cited by: 0

Direct Quotes: 1) “RI is concerned that there appears to have been little consideration by

the administration of alternatives to family detention that could prove more humane…”

2) “At the heart of this issue is the Flores Settlement, which regulates the detention,

release, and treatment of children in the custody of federal immigration authorities.”

Paraphrase: 1) RI (Refugee International) expresses their concern with the way that

these immigrant families are being treated and believes the Trump administration could

have looked for a more civil and humane way to address these families crossing the

border illegally.

2) The Flores Settlement came to be after a case back in 1985 (the regulation was passed

in 1997) which protects immigrant children from being detained in bad conditions.

Long Quotes: “Such a request was filed on June 21, 2018, seeking that two requirements

in the Flores Settlement be removed. First, the Trump administration is seeking removal

of the requirement of release “without unnecessary delay” of children detained with their

parents, so it can detain them together while criminal or immigration proceedings are

taking place. Second, the administration is seeking removal of a Flores requirement that

such children who cannot, for exigent reasons, be released from custody “without

unnecessary delay,” be placed in state-licensed facilities.”

2) “Ordinarily … modification should not be granted where a party relies upon events

that actually were anticipated at the time it entered into a decree … The Settlement

expressly anticipated an influx, and provided that, if one occurred, the government would

be given more time to release minors or place them in licensed programs … And, even if

the parties did not anticipate an influx of this size, we cannot fathom how a “suitably
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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

tailored” response to the change in circumstances would be to exempt an entire category

of migrants [accompanied minors] from the Settlement, as opposed to, say, relaxing

certain requirements applicable to all migrants.”

Definition Words: Refugee International

Reference 4: Golden Gate University Law Review (retrieved September 24, 2018)

Summary: The following academic Journal contains recent information about law cases

and settlements, including the Flores Settlement which was passed back in 1997 in

California in order to protect immigrant children being detained from being treated

poorly.

Evaluation: I will be using this source to better explain what the Flores settlement is and

explore recent cases of separation of families and how it could be considered

unconstitutional under the Flores Settlement.

Cited by: 0

Direct Quotes: 1) “The Flores plaintiff class sought to enforce the Settlement in family

detention centers where members of the class were being detained.”

2) “Furthermore, it requires prompt and continuous efforts toward family reunification

and the release of the juvenile.” (quoting paragraph 18 of the settlement).

Paraphrase: These quotes refer to the settlement and how it seeks to protect both

children and parents from being separated for no apparent reason and how it encourages

to keep families together if the child doesn’t seem to be in danger with the parents.

Long Quotes: “ If INS determines that detention of the minor is not required “either to

secure his or her timely appearance before the INS or the immigration court, or to ensure
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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

the minor’s safety or that of others, the INS shall release a minor from its custody without

unnecessary delay….””(Flores v. Lynch, Circ. 2016)

2) “When we arrived at the U.S. border, I felt relieved because I thought we were finally

safe. But immigration took my daughter and me to a place out in the middle of nothing in

Artesia, New Mexico, where we were housed in trailers surrounded by barbed wire

fences and cut off from the rest of the world. I only wanted to keep my daughter safe,

that’s why I came to the United States. But I couldn’t keep her safe, not when we were

locked away for months on end in a place that is bad for children. I understand that

immigration officials need to have a system for keeping track of asylum seekers like my

daughter and me while we wait for our legal hearings, but I don’t think putting us in jail

is the right way to do it. Why are we punishing children who have done nothing wrong?

The only thing we have done is seek a safer, happier place for our children. Wouldn’t any

mother do that for her children?”

Definition Word: Flores Settlement

Reference 5: “Seeking asylum does not make illegal entry into America legal” by

Jonathan Turley (retrieved September 24)

Summary: In this article, Turley takes a different approach to the issue on illegal

immigration. A lot of people argue that coming into the country illegally but while seeking

asylum, justifies the entry thus making it ‘legal’. Turley writes and informs the public that while

coming into the country looking for asylum isn’t wrong or discouraged, doing so does not mean

those seeking asylum will be exempt from the law.

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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

Evaluation: I will be using this article as a counter argument, and to show that although

people do support immigration and do not agree with the immigration laws being imposed right

now, they still see some sort of wrong with the way people have been coming into the U.S.

Cited by: 0

Direct Quotes: 1) “In fact, the government can charge illegal entry, even for first

offenders, as a crime under 18 U.S.C. 3559 with up to six months imprisonment.”

2) “There are good faith positions on both sides of the immigration debate. “

Paraphrase: These quotes reflect that the author believes that both sides of the

immigration debate have valid points, and they express that they do not fully agree with

President Trump’s policies, but they respect the reasoning behind them.

Long Quotes: 1) “The undocumented individuals making this perilous journey should

not be misled into believing that just entering the country makes them “perfectly legal,” even if

they claim asylum. That does not mean President Trump’s policies are correct or fair. But

spinning the law, so popular with some, is downright perilous for others.”

2) “There were 408,870 illegal entries in 2016 and 303,910 in 2017. Asylum applications

reached 116,000 in 2016. Moreover, the number of accepted asylees tends to run about 20,000

per year. Among those applying, a huge percentage never complete their paperwork and only

around 20 percent of applications are granted.”

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RUNNING HEAD: MASS DEPORTATION AND THE SEPARATION OF FAMILIES