What is the Condition of the Children Post Zero Tolerance Policy

The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley is by far America’s largest detention facility with a room for 2400 detainees. As per reports, there are 1500 mothers, children, and babies. The news reporters are barred from taking any sort of interviews. This is the reason the reporters are completely relying upon certain observations and sounds that are coming from the area. As per reports, 99% of the detainees there at Dilley are forced to stay there, after Trump passed “zero tolerance” policy. As per some critics, this policy was intended to separate families and make childhood miserable. There were reports of a death of a child in Dilley. Under the policy, the adults who entered the US without any legal records were prosecuted. The children in such cases would be under the custody of foster parents, relatives or they would be under shelters. If any friends or relatives living in the US come forward to sponsor them, they are released from the detention two weeks after which they are allowed to meet those people.

There have been reports of emotional damage in survivors due to the policy. The medical experts said that the children are often seen developing long-term health issues. The medical dictionary terms it as “toxic stress” that has developed due to the extreme stress caused upon their minds due to the separation from their parents in such an extreme way. There are still many children who are confined and the damage continues for them.

One of the officers reported that he got a call from a 10-year-old girl who informed him in her weary voice that she was afraid to attend the school of the Dilley. She says that she is afraid to leave her mother as she thinks that would make her separate from her mother. The girl mentioned that the “bad people” had caused them injury and also threatened them. She also informed that while they were crossing the border of South Texas, the Customs and the Border Protection had forced the separation. She was put in the cage which looked like a “dog pound” room. She also said that the people assured them that she would be reunited with her mother in two days but it took five weeks to return back to her mother. As per the report of the officials, the child was told that she would be flying to New York because her mother was there. But the reality was not so. The child was being sent to a shelter in New York while her mother was in South Texas. She was kept in the shelter of New York for 32 days.

The children were caged in the dog pound and later shifted in shelters. Some of these children were even asked to appear in front of the judge in the immigration court as per the notices issued upon them. As per sources, some of them said that now they are fearing to return back to their countries. A 12-year-old child said that she does not want to get back as a gang back there has threatened to kill her and she was also abused by her father who also gave her life threats.

After the “zero tolerance” policy ended the parents were given a coercive choice of reuniting or return to their homes without their children. Most of the parents signed waivers to get deported with their children. If they leave their children, the kids will have to go through the asylum process which was not considered a very safe choice for the children. The parents were not ready to leave children without the guidance of parents in the foreign land. When these waivers are signed, the notice of appearances was revoked and the asylum process would also be denied to the children.

As per reports, many lawsuits have been filed by parents for their detained children who were denied their constitutional right of asylum facilities. On the argument side, it was stated that for the best support of children, the parents need to stay in the US and through that way the information regarding the violence caused in the home countries could be known. The suit also says that the children also have the right to be accompanied by parents and during that time the parents can’t be deported.

Shalyn Fluharty, the Managing Attorney of the Dilley Pro Bono Project said, “All of the plaintiffs’ parents were suffering from emotional distress.” The anxiety of parents is more due to the condition of the children. The parents are not able to focus on anything else other than the well-being of the children and where they are going to stay. As per sources, the mothers from whom their children were separated were called for a meeting. In this meeting, the mothers were assured that the kids would be released in the week consecutive to the meeting. The representative of the children, attorney Justin Bernick said that he does not have any information about it. They have just heard about it and the government is yet to provide any information about it.

A report was released in ProPublica that said the police had got 125 calls in 5 years and that was all about sex offense that caused harm to these immigrant children who are in the shelter. There are even reports that said the children were being forced to take certain drugs which they were not about. The consent of giving those drugs was not there from the parents' end as well. Levian Pacheco is the former employee of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Arizona who placed the accusation that eight teenage boys were sexually assaulted in the shelter. Regarding the issue of health, Katy Murdza the legal advocate of Dilley pro-bono Advocacy Project said that the complaint against the availability of medical aid is not easy to access. The immigrant advocacy groups say that health and treatment is the focus for all who are in custody.