Future Direction

 

For future references, from a social work perspective, the most important recommendations for further addressing for this issue is cultural competency on the part of those ICE, social welfare workers, and the federal government towards this population. Social workers play both policy advocates and direct services providers and we impact immigrant populations and policies. We should advocate for better laws to reunify families and prevent separation and deportations, especially in families with one or more undocumented parents. We should educate lawmakers and law enforcement agencies and the general population on the effects separation and deportation has on the family structure. These children of undocumented parents are separated from the only home and family they know because of worksite raid and home arrests (Immigration Policy Center, 2012). One such law which criminalize immigrants, endanger human rights and threaten the civil liberties of citizens and immigrants is Arizona Immigration Law (S.B. 1070). S.B.1070 allows law enforcement officials in Arizona to stop anyone if a “reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States”. This legislation is of great concern to all social workers committed to the profession's core values of human rights and social justice.  As social work professionals, we are called upon by our Code of Ethics to actively prevent and eliminate discrimination against any person, group, or class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical disability (NASW, 1996). NASW advocates for comprehensive immigration reform that:

• Promotes social justice and avoids discrimination or profiling on the basis of race, religion, country of origin, gender, sexual orientation or other grounds

• Ensures that procedures and policies do not indiscriminately target immigrants based on origin, religion, race, or immigration status

• Ensures due process for all individuals, including immigrants

• Opposes mandatory reporting of immigration status by health, mental health, social service, education, police and other public service providers

• Promotes elimination of racism and anti-immigrant discrimination in employment practices

• Supports the human rights of day laborers

• Supports humanitarian measures to protect victims of and enforcement to prevent human trafficking

• Supports families by promoting family reunification and guaranteeing the human services and education needs of all children are met regardless of their or their parent’s legal status.

(NASW, 2015).

Lastly, state child welfare agencies can also implement reforms to promote child welfare practices that prioritize placing a child with a parent or relative caregiver whenever possible and to ensure that child welfare personnel (including frontline staff, lawyers, and judges) are trained on the immigration enforcement system (Immigration Policy Center, 2012).