Immigrant families at risk in U.S.

I am always amazed by the resilience of the human spirit, but for undocumented immigrant families, this resilience is being sorely tested.

As a psychotherapist, I’m gravely disturbed by the policies the Trump administration has put in place related to the treatment of immigrant children and families. The recent tear gassing of migrant children, their mothers and adults is a horror. My heart hurts.

If you wanted to create policies that would harm immigrant families with the potential for serious mental health and emotional damage, these are the policies that are in place. “Keep families together” is not just a nice phrase, a sweet idea, but essential for the emotional well-being of a family, a healthy community and a healthy society.

The psychological damage to a family that is separated by detention, deportation and even sanctuary is serious damage. The threat of family separation risks families’ emotional well-being.

I urge Connecticut’s congressional delegation to change the current policies on detention, deportation and the separation of children from families, close the family detention centers, enable children who have entered into the United States to be quickly reunited with their families and oppose the proposed public charge rule.

Karen Dworski, Farmington