Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/category/key-issue/immigration/page/3/)
Inspections of immigration detention centers are designed to help the facilities pass so they can keep their contracts with the federal government, according to a new study.
In Chicago immigration court, which has seen almost 1,500 cases of women with children since last year, less than 14 percent are represented by a lawyer. That’s less than half the national rate for this group. Legal representation is critical. Women and children with an attorney are 16 times more likely to be allowed to stay in the U.S. than those without an attorney.
Services aimed at helping immigrants transition into their new lives are among the latest to be cut under Gov. Rauner’s 2016 budget proposal.
Three groups, known as “Caravana43,” are traveling to different cities in the United States — including Chicago this week — to demand transparency from Mexico’s government about 43 college students who were abducted last September from Mexico’s southern state of Guerrero.
President Obama recently announced a plan to offer administrative relief to some of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The Chicago Reporter spoke to three Chicago residents who have at a lot at stake in the immigration debate.
Maria Garcia, 37, came to the United States from Mexico when she was 16. She came, as she says, to work. Six years ago she left her husband and started supporting her six children on her own while earning a little more than minimum wage. Garcia’s story illustrates what it looks like to support a family on less than $10 an hour working more than full-time.
Unaccompanied minors face temporary displacement, language barriers and other challenges that can lead to anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other serious mental health problems, according to research. Advocates say more services, such as talk therapy and support groups, are needed to help them deal with the stress and trauma they have experienced.
The Chicago mayor’s political persona gets a rehab that would make ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ proud.
Hundreds marched in Pilsen recently in solidarity with protests in Mexico over the disappearance of 43 students from the state of Guerrero who authorities say were killed by local police and drug traffickers. On Wednesday, there will be more Chicago-area activities in support of demonstrations in Mexico.
Critics said President Obama overstepped his power when he used his executive authority Thursday to provide deportation relief and temporary permission to work to up to 5 million undocumented immigrants. Others said the reforms did not go far enough. The Migration Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C., estimates that nearly half of all undocumented immigrants in the U.S. could benefit from the executive actions. Nationwide up to 3.8 million undocumented immigrants will be newly eligible for deportation relief, according to the Pew Research Center. How will Obama’s executive order affect Illinois?