Thousands of Immigrant Parents Detained Per Year in California

immigrationimpact.com

​California holds the second largest amount of immigrant detainees, behind only Texas. According to recent data from the Human Rights Watch, up to 10,000 of the 65,000 immigrants detained per year in California are immigrant parents of U.S. born children (Human Rights Watch). 
 
The Human Rights Watch keeps tabs on the practices in detention centers, which in many cases shows signs of inhumane mistreatment.  Due to the large percentage of detainees in California, they are pushing for legislature to initiate reform in order to protect the rights of those detained.
           
With these statistics, California legislature is proposing several initiatives to reduce the harm of immigration detention and protect detainees. In light of the large proportion of immigrant parents to U.S. citizen children, future considerations in immigration cases may include whether or not the detainee is an immigrant parent.  These considerations could help keep more immigrant families together and in the United States.
 
Our Verdict: Statistics about immigration detention like those provided by the Human Rights Watch are vital for promoting new initiatives such as those being proposed in California.  Keeping families together should be a top priority of immigration policy, and the steps being taken by California legislature seem to be moving in the right direction.