Introduction: Overview of the Family Separation Policy
As individuals continue to seek better opportunities and lives by coming to the U.S., topics regarding immigration are continuously becoming a context of the national conversation. As such, policies of immigration have been implemented to enhance the enforcement of immigration and to restrict the entry of immigrants who enter the border illegally from selected countries, which the administration believes, may bring great threat to the U.S. One of such policies is the “separation of families who seek asylum in the U.S. by crossing the border illegally” (Lind, 2018). This policy was enacted in an effort to deter such cases of illegal entry into the U.S. In the policy, children are held from their parents, labeled “unaccompanied minors” and sent to government custody or foster care, while their parents are given the label of criminals and taken to jail.
According to the policy, these people who are caught entering the U.S. border illegally are held in the detention of immigration and later brought before a judge of immigration to determine if they can be deported as immigrants who are unauthorized (Lind, 2018). However, migrants who have been denoted for criminal prosecution are brought before a judge of the federal in a federal court later to determine if they will get prison time. This family separation policy has brought a number of critics and debates regarding the effects it has on the separated children as well as the parents. On this background, this paper focuses to discuss the effects of family separation immigration policy regarding children, parents and even the U.S. The paper will conclude with a paragraph.
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Negative Effects on the Children
Many literature and research have documented the various challenges that children who have been separated from their families undergo. These effects are long-lasting and harmful to these children. Research by Family Science reveals that these effects range from psychological, behavioral, emotional and academic performance (González, Kula, González & Paik, 2017). According to the National Council of Family Relations (2018), one of the negative impacts these children experience include increased depression, confusion, anxiety, and fear when separated from their parents. American Immigration Council (2018) adds that the risk of a child having problems of mental health such as anxiety and depression increases following a parent’s detention or deportation.
This finding has been documented by service providers and doctor’s reports indicating anecdotally that they have discovered many children displaying anxiety-and-stress-related changes in behavior, including “toxic stress” symptoms because of fear of separation or deportation (American Immigration Council, 2018). Another study in 2010 of parental arrests related to immigration documented that many of the children experienced at least four behavioral changes that are adverse in the six months following the arrest (American Immigration Council, 2018). Compared to the six months before the arrest, children cried more often, changed their habits of sleeping or eating, and were more withdrawn, angry, anxious and clingy.
Second, these children may also experience housing and financial instability, externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems, social withdrawal, and academic issues (National Council of Family Relations, 2018). Children taken to foster care may start to experience an ambiguity of boundary the longer they stay away from their parents and as they get used to the new caregivers. González, Kula, González, and Paik (2017) support that long separation periods are frequently linked to the children’s unwillingness to conform to the rules that parents place to them (González, Kula, González, & Paik, 2017). This point is further supported by a study which found that delinquent behavior like drug and alcohol abuse was not a coping skill that is uncommon among children who are older with lengthy family separation.
Regarding academic performance, González, Kula, González, and Paik (2017) add that separation also affects the educational success of these children, leading to reduced academic performance. Compared to their peers who migrated with their families intact, children separated from their parents tend to have difficulties with schooling due to interruptions and lack of preparedness academically. The poor performance may also be associated with the psychological and emotional trauma these children experience due to family separation (González, Kula, González, & Paik, 2017). Other challenges they may experience include learning a culture that is new to them as well as a language barrier, limited systems of social support, deportation fear, and low wages.
Long-term separation effects on children according to the National Council of Family Relations (2018) include emotional trauma and a damaged relationship between children and their parents. Research suggests that these effects may be experienced irrespective of the duration of separation, and even if families were reunited, they may continue to experience most of these adverse effects in the long.
Effects on the Parents
Parents also get affected with this issue of separation due to immigration problems. One of such effects is the fear of detainment which damages the ability of parents to provide and care for their family, and this creates an environment which is harmful to the development of a child (National Council of Family Relations, 2018). Detainment is also associated with certain negative outcomes including emotional and economic instability, stress and trauma, a loss that is ambiguous and family structure changes which may result in a permanent dissolution of a family.
Second, prolonged detention periods make children become detached from their parents hence making them view their parents as strangers during the reunion. In some cases, children do not even identify their parents who have become near stranger to them. As such, parents struggle to bring back their authority and in the process, they face children who appear to be unappreciative of emotional and financial sacrifices the parents make for them (González, Kula, González, & Paik, 2017). Parents can also undergo severe emotional and psychological trauma when their children are separated from them. One example, according to Lind (2018), is the case of a Honduran man who killed himself in a cell of detention after his child was separated from him.
Effects on the U.S.
The policy of separating parents from their children when caught crossing the border illegally also has some effect on the U.S. as a country. First, it violates the obligations of the U.S. under the Convention Relating to the status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol” (Schwartz, 2018). Under this Convention’s Article 31, parties
shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened…enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence. (Schwartz, 2018)
Besides, the policy stands in sharp contrast to the US officials’ efforts around the world who try to encourage governments from other countries not to incarcerate and punish asylum seekers for illegally crossing borders. In many countries ranging from Kenya and Bangladesh to Turkey and Jordan, senior representatives from the U.S. have argued effectively that asylum seekers always have to cross borders which are not always entry points and have to be treated with compassion (Schwartz, 2018). In fact, the U.S. president himself congratulated the Bangladesh government for its leadership of humanitarian in giving refuge to many asylum seekers who crossed their border without authorization.
Conclusion
From the discussion above, it is evident that the position of the president to separate children from their parents and detain these parents sounds cruel regarding the negative effects it brings upon the children, parents, and even to the U.S. as a country. Alternatives that are workable and less costly such as parole, supervision, recognizance or bond should be implemented rather an incarceration and criminalization of asylum seekers.
References
American Immigration Council. (2018, May 23). U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement. American Immigration Council . Retrieved September 17, 2018, from https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/us-citizen-children-impacted-immigration-enforcement
González, J. J., Kula, S. M., González, V. V., & Paik, S. J. (2017). Context of Latino Students' Family Separation during and after Immigration: Perspectives, Challenges, and Opportunities for Collaborative Efforts. School Community Journal, 27(2), 211-228.
Lind, D. (2018, June 15). The Trump administration’s separation of families at the border, explained. Vox . Retrieved September 17, 2018, from https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents
National Council of Family Relations (2018, June 19). The Negative Effects of Separating Families at the U.S.-Mexico Border. Ncfr . Retrieved September 17, 2018, from https://www.ncfr.org/news/negative-effects-separating-families-us-mexico-border?gclid=Cj0KCQjwof3cBRD9ARIsAP8x70Opi4-5A-thvbDjF0z-c_11DFnuf4p1MxlsgEmZaXG_IWGA_RqvWSgaAnr3EALw_wcB
Schwartz, E. (2018, June 21). Trump Executive Order Fails to End Abuses at U.S. Border. Refugees International . Retrieved September 17, 2018, from https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2018/6/21/trump-executive-order-fails-to-end-abuses-at-us-border?gclid=Cj0KCQjwof3cBRD9ARIsAP8x70NIbs_GAyaC7Y9SJl9P4Ub6P-gpjInsFzgVkvCdGuHXyhbQkDgZXkwaApMOEALw_wcB
