Imagine having to leave a place that you’ve known forever. It’s where you grew up, made memories, a place you’ll never forget. For some people that is the reality. Unfortunately, deportation of Mexican immigrants has become a big problem in the United States.

In Mexico, some people see the United States of America as a safe place with many life changing opportunities. The aspects pushing people out of Mexico include: poor economy, little to no running water,  and use of child labor. Even the lowest paying jobs in the United States make more money than some jobs in Mexico. These are some of the factors that push Mexicans to immigrate to America, but it’s not that easy.
 

When it comes to entering America, in can be risky. This is because the U.S. government doesn’t hand out many residency visas to Mexican immigrants. But, visas are the only way to get into the United States legally. Visas are documents that allow a person the entrance to a foreign country for a certain amount of time. If you plan on living in another country, you have to get your visa renewed every 2 years. However, visas are expensive and can take over 7 years to get. So some Mexican immigrants just skip that step and attempt to cross the border illegally. If immigrants get caught crossing the border, they will be returned back to their country.

When Mexican immigrants illegally enter America without getting caught, they begin living in secret. When most immigrants arrive, they have nowhere to live, so they go off to live with their family members who are either citizens, or have been in America illegally as well. Some get false papers because it is the easiest way to not be sent back to Mexico. Majority of the time, when Mexicans get false papers, they get the identities of someone who died. According to officials, immigrants pay as little as $70 to get false paperwork.

The next obstacle for these immigrants is finding a job.  Most immigrants end up working 45 hours a week for low pay, although it is more than what they would earn in Mexico. Many immigrants end up being farmers or construction or something related to those jobs. In addition, immigrant parents don’t like for their children to have school lunch because putting their names in the public system puts the parents at risk of deportation.Unfortunately, the worst can present itself and these immigrants get deported.

There are many other ways that people get deported than just being in the public system. A lot of students from foreign countries come to America to study for school and they use visas that are paid for by their government. However, when their visas expire and they decide to stay longer, their government stops paying for their visas and they then become illegal immigrants.   In addition to being in the public system and overstaying a temporary visa, Mexican immigrants are deported just for doing what most people do in their daily life. For example, going to the park, having birthday parties, going to sleepovers, or even driving. This is because they never know who is watching and who could be an ICE agent or not. These simple things would seem like nothing to a citizen, but in the eyes of an illegal immigrant, that is one of the worst things they could do.

One important aspect of deportation is that it is not something that happens overnight.  When Mexican immigrants get deported, they automatically fear that they won’t see their family again, but it’s actually the opposite. First, the immigrants get arrested by ICE agents when they least expect it because the agent is dressed like other people so the immigrants don’t know who they are. An ankle bracelet is then placed on the deportee and taken to detention to be watched while proceedings are ongoing. Next, the Department of Homeland Security or DHS, issues the immigrant a Notice to Appear (NTA) before an immigration judge on a certain date. The DHS also gives the immigrant information such as: why they were ordered to appear, how they broke the law, their right to have an attorney and their consequences. Many court hearings will follow up after that. The hearings can take up to two months. Lastly, the immigrant’s deportation date comes and the immigration officers take the immigrant back to the border. They are then put on the other side of a metal gate back in Mexico.

When most Mexicans return to Mexico, it can be a struggle for them because they are either homeless or end up living in a shelter. It is also difficult to find jobs because the immigrants don’t have many documents in Mexico. Thus meaning, you can’t get employed without information. When these immigrants get a job in Mexico, it’s usually washing windshields or selling fruit all day.

When parents are deported, the children may get severely affected. There are more than 6 million citizen children who live with live at least one undocumented parent. After their parent is deported, these children most likely grow up without parents and the eldest sibling becomes the guardian of the younger siblings. Studies have shown that children with parents who are under the threat of deportation are more likely to fall into depression, have anxiety, suffer from behavioral problems and experience drastically decreased academic performance. One common characteristic found in children with undocumented parents is hypervigilance. Hypervigilance is an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect activity. It may bring about a state of increased anxiety which can cause exhaustion. Even very young kids are keenly aware of how quickly their parents could vanish.

Mexican deportation is a drastic issue causing tears in families and life-long mental and physical issues. Families are separated and kids are living without parents. Mexican deportation leaves a domino effect on families. Unfortunately, it still occurs today.