Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan and Leader Pelosi:
We, the below signed organizations representing millions of children, families and early learning professionals, write to express our horror and dismay regarding the Trump administration’s inhumane treatment of immigrant children and families which undermines our nation’s values, destroys families and communities, perpetrates extreme trauma, and hurts our nation. Since President Trump took office, this administration has embraced policies that endanger the lives of immigrant children and families.
Over the past 17 months, the Trump administration has targeted women and families seeking refuge in the United States as well as immigrants already living here. In early April of this year Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new goal, a “zero tolerance policy” to arrest nearly all migrants attempting to enter the United States, even those seeking legal shelter from violence and persecution – people who have been protected from punitive treatment by previous administrations of both parties. Seeking asylum is a right guaranteed by United States and by international law, however, under the Trump administration asylum seeking parents are being arrested, taken to court, and in some cases sent to federal prison.
As a result of this practice, thousands of children, some as young as 11 months, two years or four years old, have been taken away from their parents without knowing if they will ever see them again. President Trump’s June 20th Executive Action did not end the zero tolerance policy, and did not stop the continued detention of children - rather it allows for the detention of children with their parents, while also speeding up the process for deporting immigrant families applying for asylum.
A court halted most, though not all, family separations at the southwest border, however federal authorities acknowledged that nearly 3,000 children are in federal custody, and the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services, which shelters the children, must now undertake the daunting task of reunification, potentially by detaining whole families.
Let us be clear: detention of families is inhumane and inflicts extreme trauma on children and families with lifelong and intergenerational effects on health and well-being. We know because as a country we’ve been here before.
It is well-documented that indefinite family incarceration has negative consequences on the mental and physical health of children and families and those impacts persist in the generations that follow. Research has consistently shown that even a short amount of time in detention is harmful for children, compounding the trauma they have already experienced in their home country and on their journey.
Additionally, children who are separated from their parents suffer additional harm from these experiences. Citing psychological research, the American Psychological Association recently warned that this practice “threatens the mental and physical health of both the children and their caregivers… Negative outcomes for children include psychological distress, academic difficulties and disruptions in their development.”
As organizations that represent children, families, and early learning professionals, we reject this President’s immoral treatment of immigrant children and families and we call on Congress to enact policies that respect the sanctity of a family, support bright futures for all children and engage in aggressive oversight and to ensure that the administration:
- Permanently stops separating children from their parents and immediately reunify those that have been separated. ICE needs to release parents immediately so that ORR can reunify them with their children.
- Ends family detention. Children and families deserve due process, not indefinite imprisonment. Children do not belong in baby cages and internment-like camps. Family incarceration is not the solution to family separation.
- Ends “prosecute everyone.” The Trump administration must reverse their “zero tolerance” policy that created this crisis that resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents.
Signed,