{"id":46399,"date":"2020-01-07T18:08:06","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T17:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=46399"},"modified":"2020-01-13T17:21:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T16:21:00","slug":"we-must-speak-up-government-sanctioned-child-abuse-us-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/01\/07\/we-must-speak-up-government-sanctioned-child-abuse-us-border\/","title":{"rendered":"We must speak up about government sanctioned child abuse at the US border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The US&#8217;s intentional mistreatment of child refugees means that the nation has lost its moral compass, say Danielle Deines, Colleen Kraft, and Tony Waterston<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In extraordinary scenes at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/immigration-flu-doctors-arrested-migrant-children-san-diego-a9243171.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the US border last month<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, four doctors and two allies were arrested while attempting to pressure Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to provide migrants in a detention camp with immunisation against influenza. After three children had died from the flu while in federal immigration centres since December 2018, this event was the culmination of increasing concern over the Trump administration\u2019s stringent policies at the border, and the harm they are inflicting on children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since 2014, hundreds of thousands of children and their families have migrated to the US, fleeing the violence in their home countries in the northern triangle of Central America. Yet the Trump administration\u2019s overriding political goal of deterring immigration has seen the implementation of policies that intentionally disregard the rights and basic needs of those fleeing war, climate change, or corruption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the key messages that Donald Trump formed his political platform around is his anti-immigrant rhetoric\u2014a stance which has proliferated across Europe and beyond.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After Trump\u2019s inauguration in January 2017, his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/06\/16\/us\/politics\/family-separation-trump.html\">administration began to consider<\/a> separating immigrant children from their parents as a way to deter asylum seekers. In April 2018 the policy was made public (although according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/eu.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2019\/02\/07\/democrats-trump-administration-family-separation-policy-border-immigration\/2794324002\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reports<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, it had already been instituted), and the US attorney general directed federal prosecutors &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/usa\/sessions-announces-zero-tolerance-policy-illegal-border-crossings\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy for all offenses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8221; related to improper entry into the US. These enforced separations <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2018\/6\/11\/17443198\/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">included families seeking asylum<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014an internationally recognised human right\u2014and were acts which \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-oe-kraft-border-separation-suit-20180503-story.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">contradicted everything we know about children\u2019s welfare<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Parents who had taken an already tumultuous and traumatic journey to flee threats to the safety of their families found themselves welcomed at the US border by agents of Homeland Security who would take their children from their arms. The goal was, horrifyingly, to create a trauma that was greater than that which they had just traversed thousands of miles to flee, with the intent of deterring other families from following.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This policy led to an immediate reaction from health professionals and welfare organisations as the policy was seen to be a direct attack on the integrity of the family and on children\u2019s health and wellbeing. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theyoungcenter.org\/media-press-releases\/2018\/6\/7\/young-center-for-immigrant-childrens-rights-commends-child-welfare-experts-overwhelming-opposition-to-parent-child-separation\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by more than 500 welfare organisations wrote that \u201cForced separation disrupts the parent-child relationship and puts children at increased risk for both physical and mental illness.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Members of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) leadership <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2018\/06\/14\/health\/immigrant-family-separation-doctors\/index.html\">visited a government shelter for children<\/a> and found toddlers who were separated from their families; some children sobbing uncontrollably, others quiet and despondent. One of us (CK), as the then president of the AAP, branded this treatment \u201cgovernment sanctioned child abuse\u201d in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-oe-kraft-border-separation-suit-20180503-story.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that helped to create a groundswell of public outrage, eventually leading to the rescinding of the family separation policy in June 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the wake of these events, American paediatricians offered to provide medical care and oversight in facilities where refugee children were being held, but immigration officials declined this aid. Even more worryingly, reports of harm being inflicted on immigrant families have continued to come to light, leading to considerable concern on our part that child protection standards are not being met. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Clint, Texas, for example, children were observed looking after other children, with \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2019\/jun\/24\/migrant-children-detention-texas-facility-conditions\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">inadequate food, water, and sanitation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d Basic medical care has been neglected, and provisions of the Flores Settlement Agreement* to provide medical, psychological, educational, and recreational support for immigrant children in detention have been threatened and ignored. Families have been <a href=\"https:\/\/cliniclegal.org\/resources\/asylum-and-refugee-law\/analysis-dhs-issues-remain-mexico-policy-and-guidance\">relocated south of the border<\/a> to keep them \u201cout of sight and out of mind,\u201d where they are at risk of becoming victims of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.refugeesinternational.org\/reports\/2019\/8\/28\/remain-in-mexico-policy-is-undermining-asylum-and-endangering-asylum-seekers\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">kidnapping, rape, and violence<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has conducted numerous raids in immigrant communities, arresting people who are citizens as well as legal immigrants in their zeal to capture those who are undocumented. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-49275109\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Children have arrived home from school to find that their parents are gone<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with no plan in place to provide for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This escalation of measures and the way it has irretrievably damaged families is counter to all contemporary understanding of the physical and emotional development of children. As Pope Francis <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/12\/25\/world\/europe\/pope-francis-christmas.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">recently observed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;It is injustice that turns them (immigrants) away from places where they might have hope for a dignified life, but instead find themselves before walls of indifference.&#8221; This \u201cwall of indifference\u201d is exactly the policy promised by President Trump, and the flames of hatred and bigotry, fuelled by this president, have created this dire situation. With the intentional mistreatment of child refugees, America has lost its moral compass.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the end of July 2019, after the wide publicity of such flagrant human rights abuses at the hands of our federal immigration agencies, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/d4cc.nationbuilder.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doctors for Camp Closure<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was created by three physicians, including one of us (DD). The group aimed to create a network of physicians who were committed to tackling these injustices by leveraging the power of privilege that comes with being doctors. The overwhelming support the group\u2019s received has spurred further action, including congressional meetings and a march in Washington DC. Among the group\u2019s most pressing concerns were the recent influenza-related deaths of three children in immigration custody and CBP\u2019s refusal to offer vaccinations. For, despite a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/12\/11\/us\/migrants-flu-vaccines-border-patrol.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">recommendation by the CDC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to vaccinate all migrants aged over 6 months for flu, and the letters of concern written by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.warren.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/2019.09.06%20Letter%20to%20DHS%20HHS%20re%20flu%20vaccines%20for%20detained%20immigrants.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">congressional<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.idsociety.org\/news--publications-new\/articles\/2019\/customs-and-border-patrols-flu-vaccine-policy-breaches-basic-public-health-tenet\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">medical<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> professionals, the CBP has persisted in refusing to offer vaccinations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The group sought permission to establish a funded flu vaccination programme as a pilot, but met a wall of silence. Having stalled in the more traditional means of influencing health policy, the group then opted to organise a protest, which led to the arrests of several doctors for non-violent direct action, as we described <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Tk9eqNs9rHE\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">above<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lack of compassion and an unwillingness to do what\u2019s right were the only things keeping the gate closed between well trained physicians and those they sought to serve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doctors for Camp Closure formed out of an urgent, profound need to throw out the typical methodology for improving health. We wanted to create an avenue for those willing to risk and extort the power of our profession to publicise the deliberate torture of families at our nation\u2019s borders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is our responsibility, and our privilege, to continue working on behalf of immigrants, particularly the most vulnerable, to ensure we do not remain complicit in the ongoing abuse, additional deaths, and trauma that will remain with those in our care for years to come. Love is action and we must act. We must. Not to do so is to tolerate state authorised child abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">*Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292 (1993), was a US Supreme Court case that addressed the detention and release of unaccompanied minors.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-46405 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/01\/Danielle_Deines.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"96\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Danielle Deines<\/strong> is one of the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">founders of<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Doctors for Camp Closure.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> None declared.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-46406\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/01\/Colleen_Kraft.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"106\" height=\"113\" \/>Colleen Kraft<\/strong> is the p<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ast president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> I serve on advisory boards to Cognoa and DotCom Therapy. These are tech companies looking to leverage technology to promote equitable access to paediatric developmental services.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-46407\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/01\/tony_waterston_2020.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"106\" height=\"113\" \/>Tony Waterston <\/strong>is a retired paediatrician and is on the executive committee of the <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> None declared.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US&#8217;s intentional mistreatment of child refugees means that the nation has lost its moral compass, say Danielle Deines, Colleen Kraft, and Tony Waterston [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/01\/07\/we-must-speak-up-government-sanctioned-child-abuse-us-border\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1357],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-health-care"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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