Texas, facing a lawsuit, makes it easier for U.S.-born children of immigrants to get birth certificates

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
June 25, 2016

Last year, a group of Central American and Mexican immigrant parents sued Texas in federal court, claiming that the state had denied their children birth certificates and access to vital services.

Now, Texas officials have agreed to expand the list of documents that allow immigrant parents who entered the country illegally to obtain birth certificates for their U.S.-born children. The parents’ lawsuit has now been stayed pending enforcement of the new policy during the next nine months.

“It is a victory absolutely for all of the U.S. citizen children who are born here in Texas to undocumented parents. I think they are going to get all their benefits to which they are entitled,” said lead attorney Jennifer Harbury of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Inc., which represented the children. “We have a great deal of work to do in the transition state. But I think in the end, we’re going to get a better system out of it.”[...]

Read the full article:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texas-birth-certificates-20160725-snap-story.html

For related articles:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2015/08/texas-attempting-to-block-us-born.html
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2015/10/us-and-dominican-immigration-policies.html
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2016/02/petition-stop-denying-our-children.html