
Immigration continues to be front and center in politics and in everyday life for many people in the United States. President Donald Trump and his administration often talk about the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally. But much of the conversation around this topic leaves out the almost five million U.S. citizen children who have at least one undocumented parent.
Data show these children are at a disadvantage in education, health and economic opportunities. No matter what side of the immigration debates one takes, these are American citizens—the next generation of police officers, school teachers, doctors and soldiers.
Jim, Bill, Naomi and Bobby de la Rosa are seeing how the unintended consequences of immigration policies affect their lives.
These siblings live in Tucson, Arizona. They are U.S. citizens and so is their father, but their mother lacks legal status in this country.
Featured image: Naomi and Bobby sleep on the same bed most nights, they are each other’s best friends. The siblings are the two youngest in a family of four American citizens affected by U.S. immigration policies. (Photo by Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star)
The original version of this story, Divided by Law was produced by Fernanda Echavarri for Arizona Public Media for a project that was done in collaboration with The Arizona Daily Star. The original story was co-reported with Perla Trevizo and all photography was done by Mike Christy, both of The Arizona Daily Star.