Washington, D.C. — Please join the Center for American Progress on Monday, August 20 at noon for a discussion about the ways that immigration enforcement affects children, families, and the communities in which they live. At this event the Center for American Progress will release a report, “How Enhanced Immigration Enforcement Hurts Children and Families,” by University of Albany Professor Joanna Dreby, who will be present at the event to discuss her research on the effects of immigration actions on children and family unity.
Professor Dreby has completed extensive ethnographic research and interviews, to illustrate the ways in which immigration enforcement affects all immigrants, regardless of their immigration status. The paper is the third in our series, “Documenting the Undocumented,” which seeks to turn a lens on a population that all too often is overlooked in American life. At this event, Seth Freed Wessler will discuss his work with the Applied Research Center on U.S. citizen children who end up in foster care because of the detention or deportation of their undocumented immigrant parents, and Ajay Chaudry of the Department of Health and Human Services will discuss efforts by the federal government to better understand the circumstances of families being affected by immigration enforcement and to help ensure the safety and well-being of all American families, regardless of their immigration status.
More often than not, immigration enforcement is discussed in terms of numbers such as the number of people deported or the government dollars spent each year enforcing immigration law. What often isn’t discussed are the families and communities who feel the impact of record-breaking deportations. In just the first half of 2011, 46,000 parents of U.S. citizen children were deported, leaving behind single parents and their children in America. With more than 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country, and more than 16 million people living in mixed-status families (with at least one U.S. citizen and one undocumented immigrant), deportations affect a wide swath of the population. This event will examine how deportations and immigration enforcement affects children, families, and communities at large.
WHO:
Featured panelists:
Joanna Dreby, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Albany
Ajay Chaudry, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Seth Freed Wessler, Investigative Reporter, Applied Research Center
Moderator:
Philip E. Wolgin, Immigration Policy Analyst, Center for American Progress
A light lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m.
WHEN:
August 20, 2012
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
RSVP
RSVP for this event
For more information, call 202.682.1611
Location
Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Map & Directions 
Nearest Metro: Blue/Orange Line to McPherson Square or Red Line to Metro Center
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