AUSTIN, Texas - Despite a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy meant to drastically reduce the number of non-criminals targeted for deportation, more and more children are being placed in foster care when their undocumented parents are detained - especially in Texas. A just-released study finds the new ICE priorities are not fundamentally changing the Obama administration's overall immigration policy, which has resulted in unprecedented levels of deportations.

Families are paying the price, according to the study's principal investigator, Seth Wessler, who also wrote the report for the Applied Research Center.

"One of the many collateral effects of this policy is that children are now stuck in foster care, separated from their families, sometimes forever. Sometimes these children never see their families again."

He says at least 5,000 children who are U.S. citizens are currently separated from their undocumented parents, and he warns that 15,000 more will wind up in foster care over the next five years if nothing changes. Of all the regions investigated, the Rio Grande Valley in Texas has the highest percentage of children in foster care whose parents were deported or detained. El Paso is a close second.

When the Department of Homeland Security announced its new priorities this summer, it kept its goal of deporting 400,000 people a year. As a result, according to Wessler, local-level immigration and law-enforcement officials adapted their procedures to fit the new federal guidelines, so routine immigration violations are now being classified as criminal.

"There's a growing fear in immigrant communities that communicating with local police will result in deportation. It's putting communities and families at significant risk."

He says even women reporting domestic violence to police have been deported or detained hundreds of miles from their children, if they lacked documentation.

The study finds little coordination between immigration enforcement and child welfare services. Wessler says it's often impossible for detained parents to pursue legal steps to reunite with their children, causing agencies and judges to move toward permanent termination of parental rights.

"Everybody agrees that children are better off with their families than in foster care. But when a parent is deported, that principle - that commitment to family unity - tends to go out the door."

The report calls for community-based solutions to keep families close together and revised federal policies to ensure that deportation priorities actually target criminals.

The full report, "Shattered Families - The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System," is available at http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies.




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A new report looked into the recent shift in immigration enforcement, especially at the immigrant detention center in Tacoma.

The University of Washington's Center for Human Rights' report "The Border is Everywhere" found immigration arrests have started to tick back up after falling at the start of the pandemic.

Angelina Godoy, director of the center, said fewer of the arrests are transfers from jails or prisons in Washington and Oregon like they were in the past.

"We see a lot of the more recent arrests happening on ICE check-ins or when folks who have arrived from the southern border are coming here and starting to comply with the process that ICE required them to do in terms of following up on their case," Godoy observed. "That's when they're brought into custody."

Godoy noted Washington and Oregon have passed "sanctuary state" legislation, which has reduced the number of transfers. But other factors are making the average length of stay at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma longer than other detention centers across the country.

The report found bond is granted in a fewer percentage of cases and relief from deportation is denied on more occasions at the Northwest Detention Center than nationwide. Godoy acknowledged there is a perception the Northwest is more friendly to immigrants.

"They might imagine that the conditions here would be better than elsewhere," Godoy explained. "In fact, what we're seeing in report after report is that's not the case."

Godoy emphasized organizations like La Resistencia, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Washington Immigration Solidarity Network are fighting to improve conditions for people in detention in the region. However, she argued immigration enforcement should be a big issue for everyone in the country.

"A lot of inhumanity is occurring and it's occurring on our watch," Godoy added. "This is something that all of us need to be concerned about and taking action to improve."


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A new report found undocumented immigrants are paying substantial taxes in Maryland and nationwide.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found undocumented migrants paid more than $96 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022, with Maryland seeing more than $770 million of tax revenue.

Carl Davis, research director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said narratives around how migrants are impacting the nation do not always stand up to scrutiny.

"I think we're able to dispel a lot of myths around this one-sided idea that undocumented immigrants are claiming benefits and not paying any taxes," Davis contended. "It's really not tethered to reality."

With some undocumented workers being paid under the table, the study found if migrants had access to legal status such as a guest worker program, the states and localities would realize an additional $7 billion in tax revenue annually, while adding another $33 billion in federal revenue.

The report showed more than a third of the total paid by undocumented workers goes toward payroll taxes such as Medicare, Social Security and unemployment insurance, programs the same workers are unable to access. With presidential campaign rhetoric often focused on the topic of immigration, Davis noted big policy changes would impact the economy.

"If we're going to dramatically change course on immigration policy, say through ramping up deportations, for example, that's really going to shrink the size of the labor force at a time when a lot of industries are already struggling to fill the positions they have available," Davis emphasized.

While some undocumented immigrants own homes, most rent, and the report found migrants were paying more than $10 billion in property taxes either directly or indirectly via payments to landlords. The study reported most undocumented adults have lived in the U.S. for 16 years or more.

"By and large, these are people who are trying to put down roots and are trying to have a better life for themselves and for their families," Davis added. "These are folks who have been here for quite a while, and who are really contributing to the economy and to our funding of our public services in significant ways."


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As immigration takes center stage this election season, a new study revealed the significant tax contributions made by undocumented immigrants.

The essential workers added nearly $100 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022, including nearly $16 million in Maine.

James Myall, analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy, said the money helps support public infrastructure and services.

"Even folks who are here without documented status are still contributing to the fabric of our communities," Myall pointed out. "Paying in taxes to state and local government."

Myall argued granting more work authorizations to undocumented immigrants in Maine would increase their tax payments by nearly $4 million and reduce reliance on public assistance. Maine's congressional delegation has been pushing for faster work permits but bipartisan legislation remains stalled in the Senate.

With nearly two jobs available for every applicant, Maine companies are looking to immigrants to fill important roles, including in the state's iconic lobster industry, as more workers head toward retirement.

Myall emphasized with one of the oldest populations in the U.S., Maine should welcome everyone who wants to work.

"The direct care sector, in hospitality, in health care," Myall outlined. "In some of these vital sections of our economy - immigrants are helping to fill that gap."

Maine officials say the state will need 75,000 new workers by 2029 to remain economically viable. Earlier this year, Gov. Janet Mills signed a supplemental budget, which included funding to create an Office of New Americans, to help "new Mainers" with resettlement and integration.