Lengthy Detention Of Migrant Children May Create Lasting Trauma, Say Researchers
The Trump administration is trying to legalize indefinite detention of migrant families. But detention can be emotionally crushing for kids, leading to long-term mental health problems like PTSD.
This week, the Trump administration announced a new regulation that would allow it to detain migrant families who have crossed the U.S. border illegally for an indefinite period of time. The new rule aims to replace the Flores agreement, a 1997 court settlement which limits the amount of time that children can be detained by the government to a maximum of 20 days.
But psychologists say that indefinite detention could have a lasting impact on the development and mental health of these children.
"If the regulation goes through and we hope it will not ... we're going to see additional, a clinical social worker and psychologist and the dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin.
