Separated At Border: 'Children Will Suffer Effects Forever'

With images of children in cages and a heartbreaking audio recording of toddlers sobbing for their parents, the issue of a crackdown on immigration at the border that has separated families has left the nation sharply divided.

On Long Island, residents are both galvanizing for change, organizing rallies and vigils — and defending the decision by the Trump administration to separate immigrant families crossing the border illegally.

The move has sparked heated opposition: on Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York State will file a lawsuit in the next two weeks challenging the policy, which has sent more than 70 children to New York facilities without their parents.

"There's been a lot of talk about the morality of this practice, but we also believe that this practice is illegal," Cuomo, a Democrat, told reporters on a conference call.

More than 2,300 children reportedly have been separated from their families at the southern border under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy; Attorney General Jeff Sessions established the policy in April.

Locally, residents plan to unite and protest a decision they call an outright violation of human rights.

The "Families Belong Together" organization has plans to organize in Washington, D.C. and nationwide to protest the separations on June 30. A rally will take place in Greenport that day at 11 a.m. at Mitchell Park; another gathering will take place on June 30 at 2 p.m. at the East Quogue Park.

And in Patchogue on Wednesday, protestors will gather outside Rep. Lee Zeldin's office at 5 p.m. regarding the United States Department of Justice saying domestic violence will no longer be grounds to apply for asylum.

Zeldin has said on social media: "It is not good policy to separate children at our border from their parents and release them into the U.S. as Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs). It is also not good policy to just immediately release an entire family together into the U.S. when that family enters our country illegally.

"I also believe that it would be wrong to detain the children in cages like the Obama administration did. That was a horrible policy. I support detaining the entire family together. This will require a change in law and I would support that. On a related note, it really is quite amazing how many of the people upset about 2,000 separations under President Trump said nothing about 72,000 separations in 2013 under President Obama. Regardless, the Flores Settlement requires a change in law and I’m all for getting that done ASAP."

The Flores Settlement required the government release children from immigration detention without unnecessary delay to parents, other adult relatives, or licensed programs willing to accept custody. But if placement is not available the government is obligated to place children in the “least restrictive” setting appropriate.

That's led to the children being separated immediately, wailing, from parents taken into custody under the new "zero tolerance" police at the border.

And some say that the impacts on those children will be lifelong.

Sister Margaret Smyth of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate in Riverhead said she was moved to tears at the sound of a widely circulated audio of children weeping inconsolably, murmuring "Papi" at one of the detention centers.

"It's not only traumatizing them, it's totally hurting them. These children are going to suffer the effects of this forever," she said.

Sister Margaret said what isn't widely known is that there are also family centers at the border; one center in Texas has about 4,000 individuals held there. But due to the chaos and lack of organization, records are lost and one family, now in Riverhead, was initially sent spiraling into panic when the mother and young son could not be found.

While the mother and child were said to have been released and put onto a plane, no one knew which plane.

When she told the distraught father that his wife and child could not be found, Sister Margaret said, "He was sobbing, crying his eyes out."

Finally, it was determined that mother and child had been put in a "spillover shelter" run by nuns; Sister Margaret was able to find them, buy plane tickets, and reunite the family in Riverhead.

But the impacts were devastating even in an instance where mother and child had not been separated, she said. "They were totally traumatized. The little boy wouldn't look at us. The mother was exhausted, sobbing, petrified. She didn't know what was going to happen to her."

The family had fled their country due to fear of escalating violence.

Sister Margaret said the greatest fear is that children separated at the border may never reunite with parents. "Once I was talking to border patrol and a man told me, 'You don't know how many children never reunite with their families. They go into foster care and are put up for adoption."

Small children, who are not yet verbal, may not be able to explain who their parents are, if clear, organized record aren't kept, she said.

But for Sister Margaret, the issue is not political, it's one of basic humanity. "When I hear them crying for 'Papi,' I want to pick them up, hold them and soothe them,'" she said.

According to NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness: "The forced separation of families is highly stressful and can result in trauma—and these separations can profoundly impact children who do not yet have a mental health condition, as well as those who are experiencing symptoms, by ripping away vital family support. There is growing evidence that exposing young children to trauma is toxic to the development of their brains. Traumatic experiences can negatively impact development and mental health as children grow."

Others voiced passionate opposition.

"I will never breathe fully until I can see this evil stop," said Minerva Perez, executive director of immigrant advocacy group Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island. "Unless we are actively working against this, we are of this evil."

Others turned to social media outraged about a the widespread reaction to a policy they said was simply this nation enforcing its laws to protect citizens from those entering the country illegally. "All this liberal nonsense about kids being away from law-breaking illegals. How about some outrage for homeless veterans?" one man wrote.

Others countered that parents should not be bringing their children to the border to cross it illegally and endanger them. If they did not want to be separated from their children, many said, they should not attempt the crossing, which, they reminded, is illegal.

Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, dubiously claimed the administration did not create the policy and said Congress must change the law for families to be detained together.

GOP U.S. senators on Tuesday endorsed ending the separations by passing legislation, The New York Times said.

(Lead image: Children are held in a cage in a processing center in McAllen, Texas on Sunday, June 17. Photo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Flickr)