ICYMI: “Undocumented Parents Could Be Separated From Their Children at the Border”

Washington, DC — The Women’s Refugee Commission’s latest report on family separation at the border entitled “Betraying Family Values: How Immigration Policy at the United States Border is Separating Families,” was featured last Friday in Teen Vogue. The article, entitled “Undocumented Parents Could Be Separated From Their Children at the Border”, explains that while secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly’s consideration of separating parents and children at the border is reprehensible, the practice isn’t new.

Katharina Obser, Senior Program Officer at the Women’s Refugee Commission, was interviewed on the report and the increased plight that Secretary Kelly could impose on innocent asylum seekers:

“‘Increasingly in the last few years, families who arrive together seeking asylum have been separated by officials at the border,’ Katharina Obser, a senior program officer at the Women's Refugee Commission (WRC), told Teen Vogue. ‘WRC has met women in detention who were separated from their children at the border without any idea of what happened to them and where they were taken, and desperate to understand how they could locate or speak with them. This causes unimaginable trauma to everyone involved, and also impacts how these families go on to make their asylum claim.’”

To read the article in its entirety, click here, or see below.

“Earlier this week, secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly told CNN that the United States is considering separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents if they show up to the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization, as a way to deter border crossings.

This proposal to separate families was quickly met with sharp criticism, condemned by UNICEF as “cruel and traumatic,” and described by Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray as “an attack against the integrity of the fundamental unit of social life that is family,” The Hill reports.

The idea of intentionally separating undocumented families at the border as a deterrent is shocking. But according to a report that was released Thursday called “Betraying Family Values: How Immigration Policy at the United States Border is Separating Families,” federal officials have already been breaking up parents and their children as a form of punishment.

“Increasingly in the last few years, families who arrive together seeking asylum have been separated by officials at the border,” Katharina Obser, a senior program officer at the Women's Refugee Commission (WRC), told Teen Vogue. “WRC has met women in detention who were separated from their children at the border without any idea of what happened to them and where they were taken, and desperate to understand how they could locate or speak with them. This causes unimaginable trauma to everyone involved, and also impacts how these families go on to make their asylum claim.”

WRC documented these families' stories in the “Betraying Family Values” report, which the organization released with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND).

BuzzFeed used the example of how a 5-year-old and her teenage brother were separated from their mother for two months after they made the long and dangerous journey from Honduras to America in search of a better life. The teen, Ervin, reportedly heard officials tell his mother that she couldn't stay with her children because she had previously been deported after crossing the border without authorization.

Secretary Kelly framed separating families as a positive act meant to keep people safe. “I would do almost anything to deter the people from Central America to getting on this very, very dangerous network that brings them up through Mexico into the United States,” he told CNN. Kelly continued that the children would be “well cared for as we deal with their parents.”

But Katharina told Teen Vogue that this proposal actually might put the refugee families in greater danger. “Tearing apart families in order to try to deter their migration is not only a cruel policy proposal, but those escaping harm will still continue to do so if they feel they have no other choice left in order to protect themselves or their children,” she said. “In addition, Women’s Refugee Commission is very concerned that separating families at the border will drive women and children even further into the hands of smugglers and traffickers.”

It's important to remember that many of the families fleeing Central America to come to the United States are doing so, according to a Homeland Security document obtained by the Pew Research Center, to escape violence and poverty.

“Families and unaccompanied children from Central America are fleeing pervasive gang and narco-trafficker violence, including rampant sexual and gender-based violence, from which their governments can't protect them,” Megan McKenna, the communications director of KIND, told Teen Vogue. “Separating children from their families is cruel and compounds the suffering and trauma they have already experienced.”

A 16-year-old girl from El Salvador told Teen Vogue about her harrowing experience in an immigration detention center with her mother and sister. These situations are difficult enough with your parents by your side. Without them, the trauma only increases.

“Immigrant children are just like children anywhere and need the care and protection of their families,” Megan told Teen Vogue. “Imagine taking a long journey to find safety with your family and then being taken from [them] — almost too hard to even think about.””

—–

For more information contact: Michelle Brané, MichelleB@wrcommission.orgTessa Wiseman, tessa@newpartners.com

Also see WRC’s 10 Things to Know About How Trump’s Executive Order Will Harm Women and Children Seeking Protection here.