In 2014 I was privileged to have worked alongside members of the U.S. Public Health Service to help provide medical care, medical screening and immunizations to unaccompanied minors from other countries that had entered the U.S. illegally.
The families of these children had made what they felt was the most loving decision possible, trying to lift their children from a dangerous and bleak future to one that had promise of a better life.
Our mission, and our sole priority, was the health and welfare of these children. The children were in our facility for about three days in order to receive initial care and evaluation, and then were processed and united with family they had in the U.S. or placed in a situation where they would be cared for and begin taking steps to improve their futures. The conditions for these children were not ideal, but they did have mattresses to sleep on, recreational opportunities (in fact our team went out and bought soccer balls, games and other materials to encourage activities), personal hygiene items, etc.
This kind of mission is not without precedent. For example, the USPHS provided medical care and medical screening for immigrants coming through Ellis Island in the early 20th century.
The present situation is quite different; many thousands of children have been forcefully taken away from their parents, and thousands are still being kept separated from their families with many “lost” in the system (our government is not able to identify where they are and where their parents are). In addition, at least seven children have died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection over the last year.
Psychological maltreatment and neglect of a child by any caregiver (which includes government agencies) is a type of child abuse. The cruel and unusual treatment of migrant children at our southern border was outlined in a Homeland Security’s inspector general report (https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-47-Jun19.pdf) and other inspection results where the following were noted: unsanitary conditions (including dilapidated bathrooms, expired food and abysmal conditions in the kitchens concluding that “food service issues at all facilities endanger detainee health and welfare”); examples of psychological maltreatment (forceful separation of a child from their family, inappropriate segregation practices and absence of recreation outside of housing units are examples of this, as is the overall use of these human beings as pawns in a political game); and dangerous overcrowding, all of which fit the definition of child abuse.
Can any ethical human being buy into the argument made by this administration that the conditions these children are forced to endure are ”safe and sanitary” and there is no need to supply these children with basic necessities such as toothbrushes, soap, beds to sleep on (many children are being forced to sleep on concrete floors), appropriate sleeping conditions (the lights are left on 24/7 at many of these detention facilities), etc.
On a bronze tablet inside the Statue of Liberty’s lower level the following words are inscribed:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!“
Has our country lost our humanity? When did child abuse become an acceptable public policy?
Jeff Hersh, Ph.D., M.D., can be reached at DrHersh@juno.com.