This is about family values, and as such, our priority needs to be to keep families together, prevent child trauma, and advocate for fair and just treatment of all human beings.
A private immigration prison needs to be filled and needs to stay filled. The point of these prisons is to make a profit and they only do that by preying on the community around them and tearing families apart to fill their prison cells.
Parent-child separation has long-term effects on children and thier well-being, even if they are reunited with their parents. After being separated, reunited children can experience difficulty with emotional attachment to their parents, self-esteem, and physical and psychological health. For many children, time does not heal these psychological wounds.
Children suffer significant emotional and behavioral consequences when a parent is deported and the child stays in the country. There are an estimated 5.5 million children in the United States with undocumented parents, and 75 % of these children are natural born U.S. citizens.
Millions of children in the United States are at risk for experiencing the impact of a parent being deported, and children of deported parents are at increased risk for a multitude of emotional and behavioral problems
The consequences of indefinite separation can be devastating for those left behind. Researchers at MPI found that on average, a family loses between two-thirds and three-fourths of their income after the undocumented father’s arrest.
We cannot focus only on children when we talk about family separation, parents who lose a spouse to immigration enforcement face a nightmare beyond financial and logistical instability. For many the trauma they undergo causes long-term psychological effects, and even those who can manage economically without their partners still experience serious mental health risks.
Resources
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/09/women-deportations-family-ice
https://www.srcd.org/briefs-fact-sheets/the-science-is-clear
#WyoSayNo! 