Stop the cruel removal of children from immigrant parents ~ Ohio echo

Cincinnati Enquirer echo ~ letter to the editor calls for humanitarian consideration in support of immigrant children.

"I write to oppose this practice of separating children from their parents as they enter the U.S."

Tragic immigration stories made worse by the cruel separation of families

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has adopted a new policy of removing children from parents when they illegally cross the border. Immigration lawyers say the government’s stated number of 700 removed children is growing rapidly and some of these children are reported to have already spent months away from their parents. 

Plans are being considered now to house children on U.S. military bases to handle the increasing number of children who are removed from their parents.

Officials defend the new policy as necessary to deter would-be immigrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. I write to oppose this practice of separating children from their parents as they enter the U.S.

The science is clear that adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs, profoundly impact brain and child development. Removing a child from a nurturing parent is a strong ACE and this new policy is likely to have both short and long-term harmful consequences for the child. In addition to the immediate cruelty of separation, many children will experience changes in brain neuropathways, epigenetic profiles and immune system dysfunction. 

These changes result in life-long behavioral, mental and physical health disorders.

Our government’s dehumanization of immigrants and the persistent characterization of them as threats to “our” way of life, create fertile ground for treating innocent children with intolerable cruelty and causing them harm. This practice must stop now before we permanently damage the lives of untold numbers of children. Allowing children to remain with loving parents can prevent the toxic stress caused by ACEs they likely experience during the journey from their home country and while they are in detention.

Robert Shapiro, MD