"Torn Apart"

From New York to Jamaica, families struggle to stay together.

Harsh immigration policy, compounded by systemic inequities built into the criminal justice system, might not be thwarting terrorists or making our country a whole lot safer. But the laws are doing a great job of breaking up another entity: families of color.

This story is part of "Torn Apart by Deportation," a series investigating the impacts of deportation on families of color.

colorlines.com/tornapart

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• ice
• detention
• immigration
• 287g
• 287(g)
• law enforcement
• illegal
• double punishment
• doubly punished
• what happens to families
• families
• family

[kwacou]

No child should have to suffer, but there is an option, the family can move to Jamaica. Jamaica has problems yes but, it's also a great place to raise a child. My children returned with me (both born in U.S.) and are both finishing up high school and the eldest will be attending UWI . These families can be reunited if they want but in Jamaica. We Jamaicans need to build up our home country, so people don't feel forced to go abroad for opportunity but choose to do so.

[yvonnegrapher]

like the video said, we all make mistakes. but, should calvin's mistake mean that he be separated from his wife and child, his son growing up without close proximity to his father? we need these horrible deportations to stop. so, more families won't be torn apart.

[edmasteratwork]

This is similar to what happened to us (our family, that once was)...

I was given the "privilege" of voluntary departure back to the United Kingdom, after being in my "homeland" (USA) for 6 years and fighting my immigration case for 2...

Thank GOD!! I was able to bring my US-born daughter with me, but my US-born wife ultimately suffered the painful hardship of not being to come with us immediately. Now, being left behind in the States, "ICE" has been able to break our marriage and TEAR US APART!

[MultiSmartass1]

@throneeye You are right. Actually, this country was founded on white supremacy and so change is largely impossible in this nation because what it means to be an American is filtered through a narrow, racist, absolutist prism of vision.

As someone who is bi-racial, I have seen enough of the history of this country toward people like me to know that inivisbility and visibility are always in play.

Invisibility in every day life and visibility if you are considered a threat.

[potboe]

Color or not -- People should take responsibilities for their actions. If you are selling drugs, killing and terorizing people, you should be sent back to your birthplace -- whether you are a citizen or not. I am sorry for this little boy but the father must take responsibilities for his actions!!

[throneeye]

Unfortunately America is a racist country that is slow to change because of the right wingers. If you want this to stop we need to set a side our beliefs that keep us from coming together so that we can defeat these evil right wingers who are no more than the descendants of people who have sponsored and brought us every thing bad about america from slavery to interment camps who are mostly the descendants of the people who owned slaves,

[FemWarrior]

Hmm... Have any of you been in a U.S. history class lately? If I recall correctly we are all illegal immigrants, this country was founded on immigration, and I can guarantee that our forefathers and foremothers committed plenty of crime when they got here, like for example the brutal genocide on native people. It seems these things are willfully forgotten when other people get deported.

[jesafinado]

the answers to your questions are in the colorlines articles. calvin was a legal permanent resident. and he did not move to the u.s. to escape a jail sentence in jamaica. he immigrated when he was 12 years old to join his family. does that change your mind?

regardless of these details, american immigration policy has a very disproportionate impact of black and latino immigrants. that is fact.

[SunMyst06]

I guess I need to know a few things before I can begin to agree or disagree...was Calvin an illegal immigrant? Also, did he move to America to escape from serving time in Jamaica? If either of these are the cases, then I don't see how America is being racist.

[kwacou]

I don't feel sorry for them, they should of thought of their families . I went to the U.S. as a teen in the 80's, I had many opportunities to sell drugs, I chose not to. I went to school worked a low wage job. Later I finished college Now I'm back in Jamaica contributing to the nation I love. Most Jamaicans manage, whether in the U.S., U.K., or Canada, to stay on the right path it's those Jamaicans whose story needs to be told. Learn from this people choose wisely.