WASHINGTON – Migrant children who were separated from their parents will most likely deal with that trauma for the rest of their lives, a federal official told a congressional hearing Wednesday.
“The consequences of separation for many of these children will be lifelong,” Jonathan White, Commander of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps for the Health and Human Services Department told ranking members of several House appropriations subcommittees. “It is severe and difficult to manage even with high levels of clinical care.”
In 2018, President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance policy” on the Mexican border that created a new population of children being referred to facilities in the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which takes care of unaccompanied migrant children until they are released into the custody of a sponsor, usually a vetted family member.
But according to a recent watchdog report from the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general, the facilities were ill-equipped to handle the influx.
Significant increases in young children exacerbated the challenges of caring for youth who had just traveled thousands of miles, and who had already experienced significant trauma in their home countries and on their journey to the United States, according to the report.
But those that were separated from their parents suffered more.
“Every heartbeat hurts.” “My chest hurts.” “I can’t feel my heart.”
These were frequent ways children described their pain, according to a medical director of one of the refugee resettlement facilities.
Children who had been separated from their parents experienced more fear, feelings of abandonment, anxiety and guilt, than children who had not, the inspector general’s report said. And longer stays in the facilities – due to increased screening requirements for sponsors – led to more instances of suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
“Even children who were outgoing and personable started getting frustrated and concerned around their 70th day in care,” the report said, as a child’s average length of stay in custody almost tripled after the policy change, reaching a high of 93 days in November 2018.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, said the committee found the report “alarming.”
“It confirms our worst fears, that intentional policy choices by this administration created what I would call a mental health crisis,” DeLauro said.
Since the Trump administration ended the widely-criticized zero-tolerance policy and rolled back screening requirements for sponsors, the number of young children and length of stay both decreased in refugee facilities.
But it’s still hard to find enough bilingual mental health clinicians to manage demanding caseloads of 12-25 children with severe mental health trauma, especially in rural areas, according to staff interviewed for the report.
Clinicians also reported difficulties in addressing mental health concerns when it was uncertain how long the child would be in their care.
And separations still occur. In the past year, 911 children were separated from their parents, the New York Times reported. More than half were under the age of 10, and 185 were five or younger.
Most of the time, separation occurs because the Border Patrol is skeptical of the safety of the child, though Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union told the Times that most of the criminal history the agency cites is either wrong or shockingly minor.
Children are also separated from their extended families, which has long been federal law in order to mitigate trafficking. The government has not said how many children are separated from grandparents, aunts and uncles, and older siblings at the border, the Associated Press reported.
White said it’s impossible to build a program that can respond to the needs of separated children.
“The only way to address their trauma is prevention,” he said. He urged members of the committee to pass a bill to define what conditions, if any, would allow children to be separated from their parents.
“That is a gap in law,” White said.
Based on recommendations from the report, the Department of Health and Human Services already has hired more mental health clinicians, is working to provide additional funding for staff retention, and is developing a webinar to train staff on trauma in unaccompanied children, Jonathan Hayes, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement told committee members.
DeLauro said that in addition to the recommendations proposed by the inspector general, the administration needs to end the memorandum of agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the Health and Human Services, which requires the refugee resettlement office to share personal information from sponsors with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, causing a sponsor shortage.
“Children did not just arrive at our border,” DeLauro said. “They suffered at our hands, and they are suffering still due to the long term mental health trauma. That is not something we can ignore or sweep under the rug.”