Washington, DC — One of many cruelties and harms of mass deportation and anti-immigrant agenda is the lasting harm to children, as recent days’ media coverage continues to reveal.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“Just like he did during his first Administration, Trump is going after children and families. Inherent to the Trump/Miller mass deportation and mass detention agenda is the relentless and cruel targeting of kids. Like the appalling arrest and detention of 5-yr old Liam Conejo Ramos, thousands of children – including toddlers – have been jailed in detention centers, often alone, afraid and even denied access to medical attention. These actions are an obscenity, and the reality is that children who call this country home are bearing the brunt of mass deportation and this administration’s anti-immigrant agenda.”
Among the recent reminders of the trauma and harms of mass deportation inflicted on children include:
- ProPublica, “The Children of Dilley”, noted, “Around 3,500 detainees, more than half of them minors, have cycled through the center since it reopened, more than the population of the town of Dilley itself. Although a long-standing legal settlement generally limits the time children can be held in detention to 20 days, a data analysis by ProPublica found that about 300 kids sent to Dilley by the Trump administration were there for more than a month. The administration in legal filings has said the agreement from 1997 is outdated and should be terminated because there are new statutes, regulations and policies that ensure good conditions for immigrant minors in detention.”
- PBS Newshour: “Mother recounts weeks in immigration custody with her U.S. citizen children” PBS Newshour’s Lisa Desjardins said, “You were in a windowless detention room with your four children, who are elementary school-age for two weeks. How do you explain that to a child?” and the mother, Jackie Merlos, responded, “They treat us not as human beings. They treat us more than animals. The detention center wasn’t good for — to have a family there. My kids started having so much hunger from all the stress and trauma that they were going through.”
- ABC News, “Administration seeking expedited removal of 5-year-old and family, Rep. Castro says”, noted, “Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro said Friday that the Trump administration has filed for the expedited deportation of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his family, days after a federal judge ordered their release from immigration detention.
- NBC News, “Toddler hospitalized with respiratory failure was returned to ICE detention and denied prescribed medication, lawsuit says”, noted, “An 18-month-old baby held with her parents at a South Texas immigration detention center became so ill last month that she was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening respiratory failure — then sent back to detention days later, where she was denied daily medication doctors prescribed, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday.“
- Vanguard News Group, “Advocates Warn of Lasting Harm to Children From Immigration Policies,” noted, “Policy experts participating in the call said the effects are being felt across immigrant communities nationwide. Wendy Cervantes, director of immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy, said children are directly experiencing the consequences of federal policy. “Over the last 13 months, our children have been feeling firsthand the consequences of the federal government’s anti-immigrant, anti-family agenda,” she said.”
- The New York Times, “A Raid in a Small Town Brings Trump’s Deportations to Deep-Red Idaho,” noting of the details and aftermath of a raid at a racetrack in Idaho: “Eventually, everyone there was herded to the end of the track. Most adults, including parents caring for toddlers, and many teenagers had their hands bound … [one witness] saw federal officers pointing guns at people simply for asking questions, and young teenagers being zip-tied, including Mr. Carter’s 14-year-old daughter.”
