I'm going to get downvoted for this, but anyway. I am a parent with 3 kids in this situation (not in the US, but similar). I myself grew up in this situation, a

I'm going to get downvoted for this, but anyway. I am a parent with 3 kids in this situation (not in the US, but similar). I myself grew up in this situation, and so did my wife. We both got citizenships by the time we finished high school though. We didn't even care, barely realized, that was normal at the time. And, yes, we moved countries ourselves as well, after having kids. So first: you forget laws changed over the time these kids grew up. It used to be the case that just physically being in a country for 5-10 years used to be enough to get citizenship. Including in the US. Kids already here were not grandfathered into the old rules. So don't be too hard on these parents. The parents simply trusted that the state would actually follow the laws (which of course means NOT CHANGING THOSE LAWS, at least not for people already here). Yes trusting the state is a mistake. A big one. We've both had trouble getting into universities. We've also had trouble, for example, with youth services. Because a teacher that one kid had a conflict with reported them, after she (the kid) pointed out that she had in fact lived in a particular country, and she was pretty damn sure NZ was in fact in Asia/Australia, not in Europe. Plus that the local habits are in fact only marginally different from the US, that what she said was total bullshit. This is, apparently, a more serious situation than TWO kids getting arrested in the same school for dealing drugs. But yeah I get it: you can't trust the state. I don't know or understand what child protective services is for, what twisted logic they follow, but it sure as hell isn't protecting children. Man, actually seeing one such institution ... seeing the kids in there ... WTF. We were eventually forced to get the kids into a private school. Was that racism? I'm not even 100% sure. I think it was 90% that the teacher was a vengeful moron, totally unfit to teach children (not just for not knowing, but first and foremost for letting a conflict with a 7 year old get out of hand AND thoroughly make a fool of herself in the process, and not just once) and 10% racism. And, of course, CPS "hunting" healthy kids, and actively avoiding kids with actual problems (such details like, oh, getting caught with drugs at 13 years old. Those kids they actually avoid talking to) These days: if you want a decent job, a decent life, you will have fight against the state. School/the education system was never anyone's friend in my experience, but right now the relationships are outright adversarial. Schools, even private ones, cannot be trusted to give correct information about education opportunities to children (not saying private ones aren't 100x better, but they're not 100% accurate). They also purposefully create conflicts now, I don't even understand WHY. Immigration is just one aspect of that. Racism is the real fight: as pointed out in the article, getting into a decent school and then university, or even later figuring out which professors and employers/customers can be trusted, despite more and more racism is the tougher fight. Immigration is making sure a whole lot of forms are filled in 100% correctly at 10 different government offices, perfectly on time, and NEVER TRUSTING WHAT GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES SAY. Because some are actively trying to "advise" you into making a huge mistake. Always has been. We are still in the situation that if these kids can find a good job, they will be allowed to stay, and be able get citizenship in time if they want to. Of course that the laws deteriorated to this point is not a good sign, but what are you going to do, other than trust the state that has betrayed you already? You have no choice. But are these parents to blame? To some extent, I guess. They trusted the state's word. Big mistake. But I wouldn't worry too much about 95% of these kids. See what's happening to the health system. Education. Police forces. Give it 20 years and they will definitely not be the biggest victims of trusting the state, even if they do get asked to leave.