Final Problem Selection

Target ISSUE:

Undocumented births from undocumented immigrants in the US.

Possible problems:

Anchor babies, they can automatically become citizens, but do they?
Babies have automatic rights but the parents don’t, families get separated through deportation
Undocumented Parents don’t report rape and violence
Children of undocumented parents are not given equal opportunity in terms of education and healthcare (turned away from public schools)
Automatic registration of undocumented child in hospitals leads to parents being detained
Schools “have barred immigrant children from enrolling or meaningfully participating in school by creating intentional and unintentional barriers,” even though they have the rights to primary and secondary education.
According to the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project, 6.9 percent of K-12 students had parents of illegal immigrants in 2012, while far less — 1.4 percent — of all students were illegal immigrants themselves.

Concerns:

A new ID just adds more “system” to the system.
Not trying to change policy.
Possibly focus on the education part due to the law saying all children must be allowed school.
Schools allow us a gateway for the undocumented kids to get involved with an official system.
Healthcare allows unofficial gateway to getting “into” the system.
Concerns about self-incrimination keep families from registering births.
Possibly use a pledge for the schools to say “we accept all students.”

Problem Statement:

The problem of undocumented births affects government resources, planning, and children’s access to rights and services the impact of which is lack of government “self-insight” and these individuals are excluded from official systems.

Specific Problem Statement:

How might we secure access to public k-12 education for undocumented children in order to ensure that all children regardless of immigration status receive basic education.