Amid fears over the spread of COVID-19, a federal judge ruled that U.S Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) must release all children held in the country’s three family detention centers by July 17. The ruling, which will impact at least 120 children, promotes the health and well-being of the most vulnerable in our immigration system. Many Americans agree that families belong together, at home, within welcoming communities, and near those who will love and support them throughout the asylum application process.
Let’s set the record straight from the outset — Children are not held in ICE family detention centers because they’ve broken the law or committed a crime. The act of seeking asylum is not illegal. In fact, pursuing safety in the U.S. because of violence, conflict, or persecution in one’s home country is a right given by American law. Yet, this is the first time a court has ordered the release of children from family detention, and it remains unclear how ICE will respond. It’s possible the agency will try to once again separate families by releasing children without their parents. It’s also possible ICE will simply try to deport the families altogether.
Neither option is acceptable. Families who have fled violence and come to America to seek refuge should be kept together, not forcibly separated or deported in violation of U.S. law. The reality of large-scale family detention is even more heartbreaking because alternatives that keep families together and safe already exist.
No parent should have to decide between separation from their child or remaining detained together in an unhealthy, unsafe situation. No child should have to witness a parent struggling with such a horrific decision. Instead, ICE should release children with their intact family through alternatives to detention (ATD) that allow families who pass rigorous screenings to participate in the adjudication of their asylum claim in communities rather than in jails. It’s the commonsense, compassionate, and effective solution.
Separating children from their parents inflicts lifelong trauma on children. Young children simply don’t have the capacity to understand what is happening to them. Older children will often bury the traumatic event until it resurfaces later in life. After experiencing separation, children may become more aggressive, withdrawn, or regress to an earlier stage of development. Even after reunification, children may become hyper alert to real or perceived threats to separation from their parents. The trauma of family separation negatively impacts a child’s ability to build relationships, and can create a lack of attachment. Not only is this proven through research, our nation watched it happen before our own eyes in 2018 and we were horrified.
Research about the impact of family detention on children is equally troubling. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports that detained children experience developmental delay, poor psychological adjustment, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and other behavioral problems positively correlated to time spent detained. Even for brief periods, family detention negatively effects not only the child, but also the adult and family structure.
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Dona Abbott and Tawnya Brown
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