The Lion's Pride Volume 9 (January 2018) | Page 30

children—nearly 80 percent of whom were born in the United States—at
a disadvantage. These children are more exposed to a number of risk
factors than children of immigrants generally and all U.S. children,
including lower preschool enrollment, reduced socioeconomic progress,
and higher rates of linguistic isolation, limited English proficiency, and
poverty.
On top of already being disadvantaged, these second-generation
immigrant children also face the risk of having their illegal parent or
parents deported, most often the head of household. With the fear of
deportation prevalent in the immigrant community, many families with
both adults being illegally present in the U.S. are drafting caretaker plans
for their children should they both be deported. I first become aware of
this practice a few months ago when my husband’s cousins asked me to