The Problem
The Trump Administration has made it harder and harder for migrant families to seek asylum by by turning people away at Ports of Entry (a person has to physically step onto American soil to trigger the asylum process) and imposing a "zero tolerance" policy in which anyone who crosses the border, whether they are seeking asylum or not, are criminally prosecuted.
The Trump Administration is using this policy to say migrant children are unaccompanied. But what is really happening is that migrant children are being forcibly separated from their parents and/or relatives, who are detained and awaiting criminal trial for crossing the border. These kids themselves have been detained in facilities all over the United States, some of them thousands of miles away from their parents. |
What the Experts Say:“Forced separation disrupts the parent-child relationship and puts children at increased risk for both physical and mental illness…. And the psychological distress, anxiety, and depression associated with separation from a parent would follow the children well after the immediate period of separation—even after eventual reunification with a parent or other family.” ACLU: Your Rights in the Border Zone |