State Department report warns against separating kids, parents
WASHINGTON — Against an uproar over a Trump administration immigration policy that has removed thousands of migrant children from parents, the State Department warned in a report Thursday that similar family separations can cause long-term psychological damage and make children vulnerable to human trafficking.
“Children in institutional care, including government-run facilities, can be easy targets for traffickers,” the department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report concluded.
It added: “Even at their best, residential institutions are unable to meet a child’s need for emotional support that is typically received from family members or consistent caretakers with whom the child can develop an attachment.”
Since May, the Trump administration has separated more than 2,300 migrant children from families crossing into the United States across the Southwest border. The children are placed in shelters and other temporary housing for up to 20 days while their adult parents or other relatives are held in federal custody during their immigration proceedings.
President Donald Trump has demanded that Congress reverse the policy, but did so himself last week with an executive order. He initially defended the shelters for young migrants as a safeguard
against what he called a “massive child smuggling trade.”
“Can you believe this? In this day and age, we’re talking about child smuggling,” he said last week in a speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “We’re talking about women smuggling in this day and age. The worst it’s been in history, because the internet has led to this.”
The conclusions in the State Department’s trafficking report, one of the world’s most comprehensive, did not specifically address the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy on the Southwest border. It also gave no indication that trafficking is peaking, or that an enormous child smuggling ring is responsible for thousands of children attempting to enter the United States from Mexico.
In a briefing for reporters, a top department official referred questions about children’s treatment on the Southwest border to health officials who have responsibility for their care. The official also sought to draw a distinction between child smuggling and trafficking. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under the terms of the briefing.
John Sifton, an advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, called the report “an indictment of the Trump administration’s own policies, with respect to asylum-seekers and others seeking entry into the United States.”
Generally, human rights have
not been viewed as a high priority for the Trump administration. Rex Tillerson, the former secretary of state, had cautioned while in office over distractions to national security or economic interests.
But human trafficking issues have been a notable exception.
For the second year in a row, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, attended the release of the report in an elaborate ceremony at the State Department’s headquarters. Parts of her clothing line are produced in China, ranked among the worst offenders on human rights and trafficking.
The report is the latest in a series of State Department efforts that have starkly contrasted with White House messaging. Last week, the department’s consular affairs unit held a question-andanswer session via Facebook on tips for traveling with children, which led to a cascade of derisive questions about the advisability of caging children.
The next day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement on World Refugee Day “commemorating the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution and conflict.” Many of the families caught on the Southwest border are escaping violence and persecution, only to be imprisoned and charged as criminals for illegally entering the United States.