How A Children’s Book Might Help Kids Understand Why Parents Get Deported

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Photo: Children's Book Deportation Uribe

We hear a lot about young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, sometimes called “dreamers.” The moniker comes from the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors bill that failed to pass Congress during the Obama administration. A lot of those immigrants are protected from deportation by something called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

But DACA does not protect parents who are living in the country without legal standing, and under President Trump, the mandate to deport them has expanded. Maria Uribe, an instructor at CU Denver, tells Colorado Matters she wants more people to understand what it's like for the children of those undocumented parents who get sent back out of the U.S. So she created a picture book, "Todos Vamos A Estar Bien," that tells the story of a little girl named Maira. Uribe taught in classrooms for almost 20 years, then became a principal, and saw these family situations up close.