Shocking Recording Sheds Light on Trauma Immigrant Children Face During Family Separations

Here it is:

This past Monday, media outlet ProPublica released audio of children at the border who were just separated from their mothers and fathers. The recording was taken at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility; specifically in a detention center’s housing unit. There were about ten children in the recording. Their estimated ages were around 4-10.

The eerie recording of children wailing, begging to reconnect with their mothers and fathers, gives us a glimpse into the cruel reality of America’s Zero-Tolerance Immigration Policy. Among the children crying “mama” and “papa” you can hear a Border Patrol Agent joking “We have an orchestra in here. Right? What we’re missing is a conductor!”

Children are confused, scared, and helpless, making trauma a highly probable outcome. Many say this issue seems to parallel child abuse. The American Psychological Association addressed the inhumane practices and the health consequences that come with it:

“The administration’s policy of separating children from their families as they attempt to cross into the United States without documentation is not only needless and cruel, it threatens the mental and physical health of both the children and their caregivers.”

The horrifying sounds of these children crying out for their parents quickly went viral; touching the hearts of parents, politicians, and American citizens alike. The recording was tweeted, played on news outlets, and was even played by reporters during the Secretary of Homeland Security’s Press conference.

Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, stated that she was not aware of the recording. “I have — I have not seen something that came out today…The image I want of this country is an immigration system that secures our border and upholds our humanitarian ideals. Congress needs to fix it.” She went on to explain that there were at least 2,000 of these separated children now being held in detention centers.

Featured Image via: Wikimedia Commons