Immigrant Rights Are Family Rights

By now you’ve probably seen the headlines about the Obama administration’s outrageous record of deporting immigrants for committing minor offenses. You may be wondering why you should care that well over a million undocumented immigrants have been deported for nothing more serious than a minor traffic violation or misdemeanor.

Here’s why: This is a family issue.

It is a grave injustice when people who have brought their families to this country to earn a better life – and are a vital part of our economy – are deported for the same kind of minor infractions that millions of law-abiding citizens here commit every day. How is this the “immigration reform” that the administration claims to be fighting for?

At Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, headquartered in San Jose, we are speaking out for immigration reform because it has a direct impact on the hard-working immigrants who live here, thousands of whom are our patients. Here’s the simple truth:  immigration reform is a reproductive justice issue. Many immigrant families have children who were born in the U.S. And if you treat parents as criminals by removing them from their  families simply for getting a traffic ticket, you are not only robbing those children of their right to be in this country but you are robbing parents of their right to raise their children.

Reproductive justice is about insuring that everyone has the basic right to make the best decisions for themselves and their families, including whether and when to have families. That also means everyone should have the right to work a job that pays a fair wage so that parents can feed and shelter their children.   And it means parents should be able to take care of their families’ health even if they live in a rural, isolated area far from a medical center. Reproductive justice certainly includes families’ rights to stay together.

Santa Clara County benefits more from the work of immigrants than most regions in the world. That’s why the Board of Supervisors recently adopted a resolution, submitted by the county Commission on the Status of Women, which supports comprehensive immigration reform for a better future for women and families. And that’s the key phrase.

If you truly support family values and the importance of having an equal playing field for all the families who live here to contribute and thrive, you have to support real immigration reform. Splitting up families and deporting parents who have done nothing wrong is unjust and inhumane. That’s something that lawmakers need to hear from their constituents to send a clear message to Washington.

Lupe Rodriguez is Public Affairs director of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Silicon Valley/Coast region and chair of the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women.

 

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