‘They start disappearing into themselves,’ lawyer says
HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — The mental health of children in the United States is at risk due to immigration raids and detentions, migrant advocates say.
“What we’re seeing too much of is this impact on families and certainly children. A negative impact when we see children incarcerated or detained and for the periods of time that we’re seeing,” Bob Sanborn, president and CEO of the non-partisan research and advocacy organization Children at Risk said during a news conference Wednesday.
“And what we need to do is make sure that we have policies in our country that prioritizes children and families, no matter where their parents or grandparents come from,” Sanborn said. “Public policy should protect children, not traumatize them.”
So far this year, 3,800 children have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Enforcement officers, said Krystal Gomez, managing attorney with the nonprofit Texas Immigration Law Council.
Gomez says in Minneapolis, 5,500 students or 20% of the children, have expressed an interest in online learning “because they’re afraid of enforcement activity in their neighborhoods.”
“What we’re all bearing witness to right now isn’t targeted enforcement against genuine threats to public safety, which is what we’ve been sold as this idea that immigration enforcement targets people who are dangerous. Instead, we’re seeing a systematic campaign that’s deliberately separating families and traumatizing children in an effort to get people to self deport or to not fight their cases,” Gomez said.
Dr. Jodi Berger Cardoso, a researcher at the University of Houston, says children who witness ICE raids or are detained in immigration facilities can experience “toxic stress,” depression, PTSD, anxiety and even psychotic disorders.
“Children have the right to be safe and not fear in their homes,” she said.
Gomez says several lawsuits have been filed against the detention conditions at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, formerly called the South Texas Family Residential Center, in in Dilley, Texas.
The lawsuits claim inhumane conditions and violations of the Flores Settlement Agreement, which limits the time children can be held in detention facilities, Gomez says.
The government wants to end the Flores Settlement agreement, which requires safe and sanitary conditions for immigrant children who are detained.
“The conditions in those facilities are something that no one should have to endure, much less children. They’ve reported moldy food, worms in food, inadequate medical care, and then children, as a result, have been emotionally withdrawing. They’ve stopped eating, stopped playing. They start disappearing into themselves. These policies are causing not just immediate harm, but they’re also creating lifelong harm,” Gomez says. “All that trauma interferes with learning and emotional regulation and the trust that kids have in their institutions. And they can shape the entire course of a child’s life.”
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].
