More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the Mexico-U.S. border in recent weeks. Housed in tent camps, converted warehouses, and other shelters, they have had no idea when they will see their parents again. The Trump Administration may end the enforced separation by indefinitely detaining families together, but that is unlikely to eliminate enduring health impacts.
“Highly stressful experiences…can cause irreparable harm to lifelong development by disrupting a child’s brain architecture,” warns the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The Presidents of AAP and The Children’s Place, which works with traumatized children, talk about the enduring biological and psychological consequences of the trauma facing the young migrants.