The Lion's Pride Volume 9 (January 2018) | Page 34
unable to obtain certificates for children born in Texas” (Capps, Fix, &
Zong). However hard the state tried to uphold this policy, they could not
continue to deny birth certificates to children born on U.S. soil, as the
Constitution deems them citizens. The state settled the lawsuit with the
agreement that Mexican nationals would be allowed to provide voter
registration cards as a valid form of identification, while immigrants
from other countries could continue to use consular documents. “Some
states and localities continue to push laws and policies intended to make
life difficult for unauthorized immigrants, hoping it will encourage them
to leave. Time and time again, these policies have proven expensive,
harmful, and unsuccessful” (Waslin).
As attempted harmful policies are continuing to be written, what
other options do immigrants have to ensure their children do not grow
up in fear of losing a parent to deportation? In 2013, a group of
bipartisan senators came together in attempt to answer this question,
however their proposal, titled the “Bipartisan Framework for
Comprehensive Immigration Reform” was vague and lacked any serious
answers. While they recognized “that the circumstances and the conduct
of people without lawful status are not the same, and cannot be
addressed identically” and “individuals who entered the United States as
minor children did not knowingly choose to violate any immigration
laws”, they failed to map out exactly how minor children immigrants
and parents of American citizens would earn a pathway to citizenship
that