In our current and prior roles, we have met hundreds of students who are excelling in school and striving for college — while living in fear that their parents might be deported. Many of these students are U.S. citizens. But if their parents are removed from the country, their dreams are often uprooted as well.
These are children who show up to class, lead student clubs and plan for futures in medicine, engineering, teaching and other careers in public service. Schools across California have invested years of public resources and teacher time nurturing their potential.
Current federal immigration policy threatens these children’s future and our own.
When a parent is deported, children not only face emotional distress, but they also experience disruption to their education and often must leave the country themselves.
California spends an average of $19,000 per year educating each student in our public school system. It is estimated that 1 in 10 students in California has at least one parent who is undocumented. If a student begins school at age 5 and leaves in high school due to deportation, we will have invested up to $250,000 in public dollars that have no future impact here in our country. Multiply that by just 10,000 students, and you’re looking at $2.5 billion in lost investment, not to mention the untold cost of lost talent and community leadership.
What’s more, research from the National Bureau of Economic Research has shown that children of immigrants are among the most upwardly mobile groups in the country. These students are not only likely to complete post-secondary education and enter high-skill professions, they also have high rates of civic participation and community service. Deporting their families is a self-inflicted economic and social wound.
The harm for these students is clear, as is the economic and social cost for all of us. That’s why we hope you will join us in calling on both political parties to recognize the immensity of this potential loss and come together to create a pathway to legal status for law-abiding undocumented parents of children who are U.S. citizens.
All nations have the right and responsibility to secure their borders. We also have the responsibility and ability to protect American children in our schools. These children will become adults who help keep Social Security solvent with their hard work, build the economy with their creativity and entrepreneurship, and devote time and energy to public service.
Certainly immigration issues are highly charged and increasingly partisan. But if there is any place where we can agree it is that children deserve special consideration. That consideration could be green cards for their parents who are working and contributing to our economy with an eventual path to citizenship. It could take many forms. But it requires us to act on a fundamental and a deeply American value — we all have the responsibility to protect our children.
A dream deported leaves behind an empty seat, a hurt community and the loss of a future we claim to believe in.
It is time to align our policies with our values and protect the dreams and potential we’ve helped nurture.
Silvia Scandar Mahan is president and CEO of Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School and a board member of Alpha Public Schools. Her husband, Matt Mahan, is mayor of San Jose and a former public school teacher.