Confidential records of migrant children kidnapped from the arms of parents at the border—some as far back as a year ago—and sent to detention facilities in the Chicago area reveal kids “agonized over missing their parents and acted on their anguish by threatening to harm themselves or others,” an investigation by ProPublica Illinois has found. But despite a court order to reunify these families, a number of kids continue to be jailed.
The investigation cited documentation on a group of nearly 100 migrant children who were separated from their parents due to the Trump administration’s barbaric “zero tolerance” policy and sent to nine area facilities operated by Heartland Human Care Services, under contract with the U.S. government. There, ProPublica reports, anguished kids became depressed, said they wanted to die, and, in their distress, were even admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
One child, 12-year-old Erick, was admitted for a week and was diagnosed with adjustment disorder, documents show. “Since he was placed in Heartland’s care in May, Erick has been put on at least three medications to control his depression, aggression and emotional outbursts, has had trouble sleeping and has fought with other children and staff, according to the documents.” He’s still separated from his dad.
Other children described no longer wanting to live without their parents. “In June, an 11-year-old boy from Guatemala, housed at a Heartland shelter in suburban Des Plaines, cried inconsolably and said, ‘I want to die here,’ the records show. Employees there told him ‘he needs to live to see his family.’” One 12-year-old Romanian girl said “she would die without her dad.” This is torture, and it’s been happening far longer than the Trump administration admits.
While the administration formally announced the “zero tolerance” policy in May, families were being separated long before that.
In February, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) successfully sued for the reunification of a Congolese mother and daughter after they were separated at the border in November 2017. The 7-year-old had also been sent to a Heartland facility in Chicago. While it’s unclear if ProPublica examined her documentation, they did find another child had been held there even longer, for 400 days after being torn from his dad in June 2017.
Heartland itself says that “the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy has caused ‘incalculable harm’ to children, leaving the organization with the job of ‘picking up the pieces of the administration’s very destructive policies,’” according to ProPublica. In some cases, the administration has made reunification nearly impossible by deporting parents without even ensuring a sponsor has been in place for the child.
More than 400 migrant kids remain separated and under U.S. custody, in blatant violation of a court order. But instead of Trump officials sitting in detention for failing to comply with a judge’s ruling, it’s the kids who continue to remain locked up. This is torture, and the damage could be irreparable. “The damage inflicted was not something that went away because of the reunification,” said an attorney leading a lawsuit demanding the U.S. pay for mental health counseling for these kids. “We are starting to see signs that there could be long-term effects.”