Ice Ice Baby: The De Facto Termination of Parental Rights by an Enforcement Agency

• Author: Trishawn Raffington
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12463
• Published date: 01 January 2020
• Date: 01 January 2020

ICE ICE BABY: THE DE FACTO TERMINATION OF PARENTAL

RIGHTSBY AN ENFORCEMENTAGENCY

Trishawn Raffington

The current administration’s zero tolerance stance on illegal immigration has resulted in the separation of thousands of

families and the de facto termination of parental rights. While undocumented parents were always at risk of detainment,

expanded immigration enforcement under the Trump administration has greatly increased that risk. Detainment has directly

and indirectly resulted in the prolonged separation of parents from their children. This Note proposes a Department of Home-

land Security Regulation that will require ICE to use the least restrictive methods to achieve its goals while emphasizing

efforts to keep families together.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

There are approximately six million U.S. Citizens who are minors that live with an illegal immigrant family member.

If undocumented parents do not designate a suitable legal guardian, their children may be placed in foster care.

President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies are likely to result in more children being placed into child wel-

fare care and, as a result, more parents losing their parental rights.

State family courts are terminating parental rights solely on the basis of their undocumented status.

Keywords: Citizen-Children; Detainment; illegal immigrants; immigration; parental rights; separation of families; undocu-

mented immigrants; undocumented parents.

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2005, Encarnación Bali Romero entered the United States from her native country, Guatemala.

1

Ms. Romero entered the country on fraudulent documents and settled in Missouri.

2

In 2006,

Ms. Romero gave birth to a baby boy named Carlos.

3

In 2007, Ms. Romero’s place of employment,

George’s Processing Plant, was raided by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement

(ICE).

4

Ms. Romero was detained by ICE agents and charged with false identification.

5

Under Presi-

dent Bush, undocumented immigrants who were charged with this crimewere forced to serve out a

sentence before being deported.

6

While Ms. Romero was being detained, Carlos went to livewith two aunts.

7

The women had

three small children of their own, were undocumented, and had little money to support an addi-

tional child.

8

A teachers’aide offered their assistance in finding someone to care for Carlos.

9

His

aunts agreed.

10

In September 2007, the aide visited Ms. Romero in jail and informed her that a

couple was interested in adopting her son.

11

An adoption petition was sent to the jail weeks

later.

12

Ms. Romero, who could not even read in her native Spanish language, did not understand

the legal document written in English.

13

Ms. Romero relied on a Spanish-speaking cellmate to

translate the document for her.

14

With the help of a guard and an English-speaking Guatemalan

visitor, Ms. Romero responded to the petition informing the court that she did not want her son to

be adopted.

15

She stated that she would prefer if her son stayed in foster care until she was

released from jail and asked for visitation with her son.

16

Corresponding: traffington1@pride.hofstra.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 58 No. 1, January 2020 243–257

© 2020 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts