U.S. Citizen Children Left behind: Endgame Policies, Parental Deportation and Re-Migration Patterns

Background: Endgame policies of massive deportations implemented by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have placed many citizen children at-risk of being separated from one or both parents. Despite policies that promote massive deportation, few studies have examined what happens to deportees with citizen children following deportation. The goal of this study was to: (1) describe the characteristics of non-citizen Salvadoran families in the United States, and (2) estimate the likelihood of deportee re-migration based on reports of having children and the legal status of the children.

Methods: To conduct the first research goal, we used data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS, 2000), 1% sample. Individuals were included in the study if they were born in El Salvador, reported children under age 18 in the household, and were not U.S. citizens (n=3685). By limiting the sample to these individuals, we are able to postulate the characteristics of Salvadoran families at-risk of parental separation.

The second research question was examined using data from a random sample of deported Salvadorans collected between June and December, 2002. Interviews were conducted in eleven cities across El Salvador. The survey included single item questions related to the socioeconomic conditions of families pre- and post-deportation. The dependent variable, re-migration, was assessed using a question about deportees' plans to return to the United States (not planning to return, undecided about return migration, planning to return). Independent variables were: employment before deportation, age and legal status of children. Deportees were excluded from the study if they were missing data on questions related to children and re-migration. The final sample included 259 deportees.

Results: Individuals from the settled Salvadoran (IPUMS) and deportee samples were between the ages of 18-30, married, employed, and having resided in the United States for more than ten years. Despite many similarities between the two deportee samples, there are important distinctions. Deportees with children were more than twice as likely to live for more than twenty years in the United States and were more proficient in English than were their settled Salvadoran counterparts.

Fifty-five percent of deportees in the sample reported children, of whom at least 61.8% were citizens. Deportees with citizen children are a unique sub-population within the deportee sample. Using multinomial logistic regression, we estimated re-migration based on deportees having children and the legal status of the children. After controlling for age and employment, deportees with citizen children were 2.19 times more likely to plan to return to the United States than were deportees with no children and deportees with non-citizen children. There were no statistical differences between deportees considering re-migration versus those not planning on return.

Implications: ICE continues to carry out arrests in homes and enforce federal immigration law under 287(g) programs with county and state police. Although there are several short- and long-term effects of family separation on children, there is little policy consideration of these consequences for citizen children. This study contributes to the literature on re-migration and provides policy implications related to family separation.