U.S. should have ‘zero tolerance’ for any policy that hurts children
We are pediatricians in Texas. As Americans, we appreciate the need to protect international borders. Though as physicians who took the Hippocratic oath, what’s happening today at the border contradicts everything we know about building healthy kids.
Two months ago, the Department of Homeland Security announced its “zero tolerance” policy on border enforcement to deter families from migrating to the United States. Everyone caught crossing the border without documents was to be criminally prosecuted, a change from previous civil proceedings. And because kids cannot accompany parents to jail, children were taken away, screaming for the comfort of their loved ones. The result: crowded detention centers and potentially irreparable harm to children.
An executive order recently halted family separation in the face of public outcry, but over 2,000 children are still being held separate from their parents. Worse still, Congress is debating proposals to revise the 1997 Flores Settlement, which would allow children to be detained past 20 days and put their health at even greater risk of harm.
Repeated evidence shows how traumatic experiences disrupt children’s brain architecture. Highly stressful events, such as family separation or prolonged detention, can cause stunted growth, delayed speech, learning disabilities and aggression. And extended exposure to fight-or-flight hormones can lead to heart disease, obesity, alcoholism, depression, anxiety disorders and even cancer.
Representing over 600,000 doctors, collectively, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Medical Association condemned recent events, citing dangerous health consequences.
Religious leaders called the policies “immoral” and “unconscionable”; the United Nations Human Rights Office cited child abuse; former First Lady Laura Bush called it cruel and immoral; and legislators from both parties demanded action.
Last weekend, physicians, nurses and social workers from across Texas and the United States marched to the Port of Entry gates of Tornillo, where 23 children who were separated from their parents and over 300 unaccompanied minors live in tents in the desert heat.
We were not allowed to care for the children, so we peacefully protested, doing our best to fulfill our oaths to protect children from dangerous environments.
Today, amid enduring injustices and partisan debates, we can all do more:
Stress the need for immediate reunification of the over 2,000 children separated from their parents, and a permanent end to the “zero tolerance” policy. Separating children from parents is a health and humanitarian crisis.
Advise federal policymakers to follow evidence-based programs to manage asylum-seekers, such as family-based case management.
Write affidavits for legal organizations representing children whose medical conditions are worsened by being in detention. You can sign up to contribute or volunteer at MigrantClinician.org.
Lobby lawmakers to streamline processes for getting more medical providers into the detention centers, military bases, and tent cities where detained children need care. Such environments are unfit for children, especially amid no-touch policies.
Urge Congress to reject revisions to the Flores Settlement that would put children at even greater risk of harm. Indefinite detention of children has significant health implications and must not be an alternative.
March. Join fellow Texas physicians, nurses and social workers Saturday at noon as we march on the Capitol at 1100 Congress Ave. Because families belong together.
Our prescription: zero tolerance for policies that harm children.
I implore Sen. Ted Cruz to work with Sen. Dianne Feinstein to pass a clean bill to help the families separated at the border.
I do not support your bill, Sen. Cruz. Asylum investigations and hearings take time — and families escaping terror in their home countries deserve that time to get their cases heard.
It is not illegal to seek asylum and refugees shouldn’t be treated like criminals.
Yes, jailing families together is an improvement over tearing children from their parents, but is this bottom-rung standard the best we can do? Of course, it isn’t. We aren’t fooled; voters are watching the money trail from private prisons straight to GOP campaign coffers.
Rise above. Do the right thing and put people over party.
We will not forget, and it might slow the flood of money, volunteers and fervor to Beto O’Rourke’s campaign.
I’m 67 and Jewish. In my teens, a common question among friends was, “If I’d been an Aryan German when Hitler rose, would I have stood up for Jews?”
We couldn’t know then, but though the script and players have changed, we must know now.
Forced family separations and internments, resettlement camps, suffering children and desperate parents are real today. I’m outraged to see Congress barter release of caged children for funds for Trump’s racist border wall. The wall would further separate families and entire communities while destroying sensitive ecosystems.
I will be at the Sierra Club table at the Families Belong Together rally this Saturday at noon at the Texas Capitol to encourage folks to sign our petition calling on Sens. Cruz and Cornyn to keep families together and refuse to spend American dollars on a cruel wall.
I hope to see you there.