Holding migrant children for a longer time will put their health in danger, experts warn (Image via: Pri.org)

Health Experts Warn Health Risks of Migrant Children in Detention

Kirana Chandra Mumpuni Budiana
Politics & Economic
International
Aug 22, 2019
1846
The concern about migrant children's lives have been rising after the deaths of seven children in detention center under the Trump’s administration. Currently, Trump’s administration is under fire again as health experts and immigrant rights advocates put out a warning about health risks for migrant children in detention. Flu season is about to start and the children are vulnerable under their circumstances. Trump’s administration just announced a more difficult rule for migrants, which is holding them in detention facilities for a longer time. The rule will be applied within 60 days, which is the peak season for flu disease. The reasons stated were the Department of Homeland Security can hold families together while their immigration cases are settled in court, as well as provide a better immigration system. Despite all of the intentions, this rule is still dangerous for migrant children.

Plants for migrant detention center health policies ahead of flu season has already been proposed by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) to Trump cabinet officials in early August. Both of them provided a detailed series of questions and best-practices recommendations for managing infectious disease risks, yet there has been no answer from the cabinet officials. Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated it won’t give any vaccination due to the short-term nature of CBP holding and the complexities of its operating programs. After all, it’s no longer a secret that Trump’s administration is being criticized for the inhumane act of by holding children in overcrowded and unsanitary border patrol facilities. It is reported that they live without access to basic needs and care.

Katie Hamm, vice president for Early Childhood Policy at The Center for American Progress, said that an irreparable harm to migrant children’s health and development can happen if the administration removes legal protections for children. The president and CEO at St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, Jim Mangia, asked a question if the administration is deliberately seeking to create a public health emergency at their detention centers and border communities. He said that by not giving vaccine, the administration decided to put migrant families in deadly risk. A recommendation came out from The American Academy of Pediatrics that migrant families and children should be processed in a child friendly manner and outside current CBP processing. The administration should have known better by including the humanity factor inside its regulation.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/migrant-children-face-more-serious-health-risks-longer-detentions-groups-n1045031

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