Protecting U.S.-Citizen Children Whose Central American Parents Have Temporary Protected Status

Abstract

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was recently terminated for Central American residents in the United States. The TPS recipients who have not already obtained an alternative form of legal immigration authorization will soon be subject to detention and deportation. As a result, it is estimated that thousands of children, many of whom are U.S. citizens—246,200 from El Salvador and Honduras alone—will be at risk for experiencing short- and long-term psychological and health consequences owing to the impending detention and/or deportation of their parents. The United States and the global community must protect these children. Neglecting to promote protection for the offspring of TPS recipients contradicts the premises of the U.S. Constitution, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC; United Nations General Assembly, 1989), and the United Nations’ recent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; United Nations General Assembly, 2015). Our nation’s laws and immigration policies must interrupt cycles of trauma and establish sustainable healthy trajectories across the life span for the well-being of all children. In light of the extensive evidence on harmful effects of parent–child separation and intergenerational trauma, this policy brief recommends reaffirming commitment to maintenance of the family unit, providing a path to authorized immigration status for TPS parents, and using a “trauma and developmentally informed lens” when creating policies that involve children.

Full text

POLICY BRIEF
Protecting U.S.-Citizen Children Whose Central American Parents
Have Temporary Protected Status
Lisseth Rojas-Flores
Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California
Josephine Hwang Koo
Universidad Tecnológica del Perú
Jennifer Medina Vaughn
Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was recently terminated for Central American
residents in the United States. The TPS recipients who have not already obtained an
alternative form of legal immigration authorization will soon be subject to detention
and deportation. As a result, it is estimated that thousands of children, many of whom
are U.S. citizens—246,200 from El Salvador and Honduras alone—will be at risk for
experiencing short- and long-term psychological and health consequences owing to
the impending detention and/or deportation of their parents. The United States and the
global community must protect these children. Neglecting to promote protection for the
offspring of TPS recipients contradicts the premises of the U.S. Constitution, the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC; United Nations General Assem-
bly, 1989), and the United Nations’ recent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs;
United Nations General Assembly, 2015). Our nation’s laws and immigration policies
must interrupt cycles of trauma and establish sustainable healthy trajectories across the
life span for the well-being of all children. In light of the extensive evidence on harmful
effects of parent– child separation and intergenerational trauma, this policy brief rec-
ommends reaffirming commitment to maintenance of the family unit, providing a path
to authorized immigration status for TPS parents, and using a “trauma and develop-
mentally informed lens” when creating policies that involve children.
Impact and Implications
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was recently terminated for Central American
residents in the United States. As a result, thousands of children, many of whom are
U.S. citizens, now experience the burden of their parents’ precarious immigration
status, in addition to the weight of the trauma that propelled their parents’ flight to
the United States. The purpose of this policy brief is to increase action for policies
that address these burdens, and to advance the United Nations Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals (SDGs) agenda for reducing inequalities (SDG10) and promoting just
and inclusive societies (SDG16) for children of immigrants.
Keywords: Temporary Protected Status, immigration policy, child well-being, trauma,
Central America
This article was published Online First December 17,
2018.
Lisseth Rojas-Flores, Fuller Graduate School of Psy-
chology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Cali-
fornia; Josephine Hwang Koo, Department of Psychol-
ogy, Universidad Tecnológica del Perú; Jennifer Medina
Vaughn, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller
Theological Seminary.
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Lisseth Rojas-Flores, Fuller Graduate School of
Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, 180 North Oak-
land Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. E-mail: lrojas@fuller.edu
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
International Perspectives in Psychology:
Research, Practice, Consultation
© 2018 American Psychological Association 2019, Vol. 8, No. 1, 14–19
2157-3883/19/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ipp0000100
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