April 23, 2018
Please sign and share our petition to Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen M. Nielsen.
The New York Times reported on Friday that since October 2017 more than 700 children have been separated along the southwest border from adults claiming to be their parents, including 100 children under the age of 4. Many of these children remain in custody indefinitely apart from their parents.
“Needlessly ripping kids, toddlers, babies away from their parents is inhumane, barbaric and unconstitutional. An Administration that purports to uphold family values is callously inflicting devastating trauma on children and families in service of its punitive immigration policies,” said Sandy Santana, Executive Director of Children’s Rights.
In an amicus brief filed in March on behalf of an asylum seeker separated from her seven-year old daughter, Children’s Rights explained that the traumatic stress that a child experiences when needlessly separated from a parent may have life-long consequences because it can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems and increase the risk of stress-related diseases and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
Children’s Rights will work with its partners to continue to advocate for immigrant children separated from their families. As Christina Remlin, Lead Attorney and author of our amicus brief put it: “How can we tuck our children in at night, knowing that our government is doing this to other parents who love theirs as much as we do? And how do we inflict such cruel trauma on children?”