AP
June 30, 2015
Detaining
immigrant women and children who may have fled violence in their home
country "creates or exacerbates" psychological trauma, according to a
complaint filed Tuesday
by immigrant rights groups with the Department of Homeland Security.
The
complaint asks for the agency's Office of Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties to investigate 10 cases where mental health professionals who
were contracted by attorneys
attested to psychological issues, including anxiety, depression, and
suicidal thoughts among detained women and children.
The
complaint also asks for a complete investigation into the effects
family detention has had on the more than 6,300 women and children at
one of the four facilities
that opened last year in response to tens of thousands of Central
Americans crossing the Texas-Mexico border. Two centers are in South
Texas, one is in Pennsylvania and a fourth in New Mexico closed last
November.
U.S.
Customs and Immigration Enforcement said on-site providers have
identified mental health problems, but the issues may be "pre-existing"
and not related to detention.
Most of the women and their children in the complaint have since been
released.
"This
policy started so quickly last summer that no one has taken the time to
investigate the psychological consequences, and that is a real failure
on our government's
part," said Karen Lucas, associate director of advocacy at the American
Immigration Lawyers Association. That group, the Women's Refugee
Commission and the American Immigration Council filed the complaint.
ICE
spokeswoman Gillian M. Christensen said in a statement that the agency
takes the health and welfare of detainees seriously and that the centers
are "an effective and
humane alternative for maintaining family unity as families go through
immigration proceedings or await return to their home countries."
"Individuals
housed in our family residential facilities receive timely and
appropriate medical and mental health care," she said.
There
have been fewer border crossings this year, and Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson announced last week the end of long-term detention
for women and children,
approving a plan that would offer appropriate and reasonable bond
amounts for families at the centers who can present a credible case that
they fear persecution in their home countries.
South
of San Antonio, the 50-acre campus in Dilley — and, to a lesser extent,
the Karnes City facility — boast of a number of amenities not usually
found at detention
centers, such as soccer fields, gymnasiums, libraries and high-tech
classrooms. There are 2,311 women and children being held in the two
facilities, according to ICE.
"They
have tried to make these places look and feel better but ultimately
they are still behind walls and they don't have freedom," said Luis H.
Zayas, a psychologist
who has examined women and children in both Texas facilities and is
cited in the complaint.
It's
not easy to extrapolate from the few cases cited in the report, but
research shows that even short periods of detention can compromise a
child's development and cause
illness, Zayas said, though long-term detention results in the most
problems. He saw "regression behavior" in some children who had been
detained for several months to a year, including an 8-year-old girl who
attempted to breast feed again and an 11-year-old
boy who began urinating in his bed.
Other
examples cited among the 10 cases are children who became aggressive or
suddenly started clinging to their mothers; others have had nightmares
or suffered from various
illnesses, including constant vomiting and headaches. The children
constantly ask when they will be released, the complaint said.
"We've
seen depression is the most common one. Part of the depression is a
sense of hopelessness," said Zayas, who is also the dean of the School
of Social Work at the
University of Texas at Austin.
The
mothers describe horrific acts of gang violence, domestic abuse, rape
and ethnic persecution in their home countries. They are often diagnosed
with post-traumatic
stress disorder and depression, and their symptoms are often described
as being exacerbated by detention, according to the complaint.
Margaret
Bassett, with the Institute of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at
the University of Texas at Austin, wrote about a Guatemalan woman who
fled with her infant
son after receiving repeated death threats from her father-in-law.
"The
fear, uncertainty and lack of control" of detention mimics her life in
Guatemala, Bassett wrote, "forcing her to re-experience her trauma on a
daily basis."
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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