Increasing globalization has stimulated an unprecedented flow of immigrants. Integrating immigrants and the subsequent generations into the receiving society is a primary challenge of globalization; failing to do so, however, can have long term social implications.

As I mentioned before, this past Labor Day weekend I attended another demonstration against this country’s use of the prison-industrial complex to detain undocumented immigrants. Like the previous rally, Houston’s local organization, Sin Fronteras Defense Committee, held the protest in front of Corrections Corporation of America’s (CCA) Houston Processing Center.

This time around, there were a lot more press this time around than the previous one. Those from the fourth estate who showed up were, El Dia (Houston’s first Spanish language daily), KTRH 740 AM, CBS local affiliate KHOU, NBC local affiliate KPRC, Telemundo and Univision. The press conference was kicked off by RoB of the Sin Fronteras Defense Committee, followed by Bob Libal, of Grassroots Leadership in Austin, TX, then by Luissana Santibanez, a University of Texas student and also an organizer with Grassroots leadership, and ending with Ben Browning, one of the two activist from Houston Sin Fronteras who locked themselves to the entrance gate of the Houston Processing Center with a u-lock.

Ben spoke about the need for direct action and about the plea agreement he and Ashley Turner reached with Harris County.

On August 16th, Ben and Ashley accepted a plea bargain at their court appearance for the civil disobedience they took part in on June 4th to block the entrance gates of the north Houston immigration jail for three hours. Upon pleading guilty to Criminal Trespassing, a class B misdemeanor, they were given time served and a $100 fine. With court costs, they have to pay $326 each ($752 total) and still owe the lawyer $4000. They accepted this plea bargain so that we could return to the front lines of the struggle as soon as possible, and return their energies to where they feel it does the most good - in the streets.

We feel that this plea agreement is an effort by Harris County and most likely the Corrections Corporation of America to sweep this issue under the rug. We have no intention of letting this happen. The struggle against the unjust policies of immigrant detention enforced by the federal government and private companies is becoming more widespread and coordinated throughout Texas and the United States.

As parents are deported, because they are undocumented or have lost their legal status, the ones who pay the greatest price are their children with US citizenship - a complication that underscores the difficulty in enforcing immigration laws against people who have put down roots and begun raising families in the US. What happens to the children who are left behind when their immigrant parents are seized, jailed or deported?

For children whose parents are suddenly led away, the aftermath is painful in innumerable ways, emotionally and otherwise. Luissana Santibanez is no exception. She spoke about her experience of becoming the sole caregiver to her three teen siblings and her struggle to complete her undergraduate program at the University of Texas in Austin. In 2004, Sergia Santibanez, her mother and a legal resident for more than 15 years, was arrested and charged with transporting undocumented residents. Sergia, who had been raising her family as a single mother ever since her undocumented ex-husband was arrested, detained and deported to Mexico. During that time, she ran an informal van company, similar to a taxi service, to make ends meet.

While driving a group of people from San Antonio to Dallas, Sergia got into an accident in New Braunfels. The police officer who came to investigate the incident asked everybody for their documents. Unfortunately, for her, some of her passengers were unable to show proof of citizenship. She was later charged with two misdemeanors and sentenced to four months in prison. After the four months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had taken her custody and transported her to the Houston Processing Center where she was detained for an additional 18 months before she was deported to Mexico.

Last April, the Texas Observer ran a story about the immigration rights movement and the local activist involved. Allowing their voices to be heard, Luissana wrote how she not only had to take care of her siblings, but she also had to “ensure that [her mother] had some sort of monthly income to buy toiletries [and] telephone cards” to talk to them. Had I known she was going to show up at the rally, I would have tried to find time with her so we could discuss this issue and along with her experience of becoming an instant caregiver. During the rally, she was well received by the local mainstream media that did attend the rally, it seemed everyone wanted some alone time with her, so they could interview her. Surprisingly, with all the attention she received from the media, none of them aired their interview of her.

It seems, the prison-industrial complex will nickel and dime a person as much as they can in order to maximize profit. One way for-profit prisons try to increase their revenues is by contracting with other corporations to provide substandard or overpriced services to prisoners. Although they are required to provide three meals a day, however, as Luissana mentions, “Everything is sold at this private company. The only thing they would not sell to detainees was toilet paper - and even that was rationed sometimes.” Many private prisons are able to make additional funds if the detainee is lucky enough to have money, in some facilities, inmates are allowed to purchase up to $100 a week in snacks, hygiene products and undergarments. This is what is known as the prison commissary - the company store, where an inmate is forced to pay whatever the commissary decides to charge for a product because they are not allowed to buy from any other source. In short, for-profit prisons not only make money from government contracts, but also from the products they sell.

Luissana is not the only one who became an instant parent. Sixteen year-old Leslie Muñoz also had to take the role of parent the minute her parents where deported to Mexico. She practically lost the carefree life that a normal 16 year old would have and she is now forced to take on the adult responsibility of paying the family’s $2,500 plus monthly mortgage along with making sure the monthly bills are paid on time while at the same time taking care of her 13-year-old brother, Marcos, and 9-year-old sister, Adilene.

Abel Muñoz and his wife, Zulma Miranda, had spent the past few years trying to legalize their status. They overstayed a temporary permit in 1989 when they brought their infant son to San Diego for medical care. At the time, they were expecting their second child. When the infant died two months later after they arrived, a medical worker suggested they remain longer to make sure their unborn daughter, Leslie, received proper care. They never left.

What began as a disaster ultimately became a success story for the pair. The family made enough money to afford a home they bought not too long ago for about $500,000. Abel was on his way to becoming a certified electrician, but now, all of it is gone for this family. Currently, Able and Miranda are living with Zulma’s mother and sister in Tijuana. This story was reported back in March and at that time, the mortgage for April was almost due, it is unknown if they were able to pay or if the bank foreclosed on the house. Unlike Luissana and her siblings who are able to living off Luissana’s part-time work, loans and about $400 a month in food stamps, Leslie and Abel are struggling to find the money to pay the mortgage. However, like Luissana, Leslie has been put in charge of keeping the family together. After her parents were deported, to make ends meet, her parents are selling tamales, tacos and menudo from a food cart in the colonias of Tijuana; and here in the US, Leslie put the house up for rent and has put her mother’s SUV and father’s work truck up for sale. As of this writing, it is uncertain where the Muñoz children are living now.

Sudden separation makes children and teens susceptible to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress and for some, a sudden drop in grades. Older kids find themselves taking on responsibilities their parents had, such as stressing over how to pay bills and put food on the table. The deportation of their parents has taken a toll academically for both the Santibanez and the Muñoz families.

Back in April, Luissana had learned that her brother, Sergio, showed signs of acting out as he received an in-school suspension for tardiness; and her sister, Madelein, who had just been inducted into the National Honor Society, was now beginning to have difficulty in school. As for Lesilie Muñoz, also an honor student, she began missing school least twice a week to take care of family business and immediately began failing most of her classes. Her plans for going to college, is nothing but a dream. As for her brother Marcos, another honor student, began getting Fs in school and was struggling to stay enrolled at the prestigious Preuss School at UC San Diego with two recent Fs.

In the midst of the largest wave of immigration in history, America, mythical land of immigrants, is once again contemplating a future in which new arrivals will play a crucial role in reworking the fabric of the nation. For immigrant children, it is the best of times and the worst. These children are more likely than any previous generation of immigrants to end up in colleges and universities - or unschooled, on parole, or in prison. Regardless of how one might feel about our nation’s immigration policies, there is no turning back the clock on the children of immigrants already living here, most of whom are US citizens. Who these children grow up to be will determine the nature of America in the twenty-first century.

Related posts

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• Save a Criminal, Deport the Victim: Georgia’s New Immigration [Mis]Direction (10)

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