They can attend public schools through high school but often can't get the financial aid needed for college.
They can get emergency medical treatment but often can't get the preventive care to keep minor health issues from becoming full-blown problems.
And, under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent proposals, undocumented immigrant children would be given unprecedented access to healthcare but would lose long-term welfare benefits.
Such children often face a confusing thicket of public policies reflecting sympathy for their vulnerability and disapproval of their parents' illegal behavior.
"Illegal alien children are here through no fault of their own," said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative think tank based in Washington. "On the other hand, kids suffer all the time from the bad decisions of their parents. These two opposing views highlight the ambiguity many people feel about the issue."
State officials say the governor's health and welfare proposals are not meant to be contradictory, nor are they aimed at immigration control. They merely end welfare benefits after five years for children, documented or not, with ineligible parents. But immigrant activists argue that the governor's proposals are counterproductive.
"Assistance to uninsured children and families would be offered under the universal health plan, but the same group ... would also be left without financial assistance to cover other basic necessities, such as food or housing," said Angela Sanbrano, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles. Even immigration opponents say it's tricky to target children.
"You want to help children, no matter who they are and where they come from," said Caroline Espinosa, spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, a Virginia-based immigration control group. "But doing so does encourage and reward illegal behavior and takes resources away from our own poor and needy citizens."
"It's a tough position to take, though," Espinosa added.
Arguments over aid to undocumented children have raged for more than three decades.
Landmark ruling
In a landmark 1982 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1975 Texas law denying free public education to undocumented school-age children. The court, noting the primacy of public education in conveying national values, said that children are innocent victims of their parents' decisions, are subject to equal-protection laws and can be barred from school only to further a "substantial state interest." Texas had not sufficiently done so, the court ruled in the 5-4 decision.
