“They didn’t talk to me, only to yell at me, to humiliate. They never said: ‘You have a daughter, you can bring her,’ because I would have brought [my daughter], she is very attached to me.”
– 22 year-old woman who was deported without her two year-old child
In November, researchers from Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) traveled to Honduras to interview recently deported parents and staff at a reception center that is the first stop for Honduran nationals arriving on deportation flights from the United States. We wanted to learn firsthand how pregnant women and parents who have been detained and deported have experienced US immigration policy in practice.
We documented clear violations of US policy, including policies that are meant to prevent family separations. Our report provides some of the first concrete evidence to suggest that ICE is not following its own requirements to ensure that children of detained parents are safe and that parents can decide what happens to their children if they are deported. We also found further evidence of dangerous, even life-threatening lapses in medical care for pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women in immigration custody, echoing data WRC has been collecting through its detention pregnancy tracker.
These immigration policies are meant to protect people who are instead experiencing real harm because directives aren’t being followed: children left crying for their mothers, toddlers abandoned without warning, pregnant women facing life-threatening medical complications without necessary medical care, and families facing separations that may become long-term or even permanent. Profound psychological and physical harm is being inflicted on families, in ways that may never be undone.
Among our recommendations: Congress must codify parental interest protections into law and ensure that receiving countries like Honduras have the support they need to reunify separated families.
You can find the full report, including our key findings and all of our recommendations to the US Congress, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Government of Honduras, here.
Please help us to spread the word about these egregious violations of civil and human rights by sharing the report with your network and calling for an end to these harmful practices.