Adverse Childhood Experiences, Immigration, and Trump
In response to a threat, the human body begins a chain reaction of physical responses, starting by producing excess stress hormones. According to Santhanam (2018), the amygdala and hypothalamus alarm the body with stress signals causing adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol to be released from the adrenal glands, causing symptoms of anxiety.
When a child feels threatened, they rely on a caretaker to provide safety, this comfort helps to aid in recovery from a triggering event. In disengaging the alarm, the heart stops racing and the child can recover. The ability of the caretaker to mediate trauma is often described as flipping a switch — which ultimately influences the severity of the outcome.
The term adverse childhood experience (ACEs) refers to any event that causes excessive stress, which when left unchecked, may lead to lasting trauma (Shonkoff et. al, 2011). ACEs can range from witnessing effects of mental illness, domestic violence, or socioeconomic stress.
In the case of immigration, many leave their home countries to escape war and oppression, often seeking asylum as a refugee in a safe place. Some immigrants are motivated by socioeconomic opportunities and in hopes of a better life for themselves and their children. Every immigrant chooses to leave their home for a reason, whether it’s simply for improved circumstances or for their survival.
Van Ecke explains that trauma creates a wound to a child’s internal model of an attached relationship (van Ecke, 2005). According to Winnicott, as cited in Suarez-Orozco, Todorova, and Louie, the context for growing up into a secure adult is that of similarly secure and loving caretakers (Winnicott, 1958 in Suarez-Orozco, Todorova, & Louie). Given the far-reaching effects of security and acceptance in the immigration process, it is in the receiving country’s best interest to welcome immigrants with open arms and the necessary resources.
If children are unnecessarily and traumatically removed from their parents, their physical and mental health and well-being will suffer. The effects of traumatic experiences — especially in children who have already faced serious adversity — are unlikely to be short lived: cumulative adversity can last a lifetime….
MacKenzie, Bosk, & Zeanah, 2017
Acculturation and enculturation are two processes unique to the immigrant experience. Acculturation is the adaptation that occurs when two cultures make contact, and enculturation refers to the cultural identity one retains even after being immersed in a new culture. The acculturation process increases emotional vulnerability in all immigrants, but especially for children, and the accompanying stress can greatly impact development and health (Perreira & Ornelas, 2011).
Acculturative stress is characterized by the loss of familiar people, language, and tradition. It can also include a struggle with feelings of belonging, facing discrimination, and challenges navigating support systems and resources in the new environment (van Ecke, 2005). The likelihood of trauma is magnified when applied to refugees, who flee their home country in order to survive. Still, when the decision is between life and death, there is no question of whether or not the stress of immigration is worthwhile.
Donald Trump’s messaging and policies have thus far only promoted racism and xenophobia as American values. The administration’s astounding bigotry instigated the forced separation of thousands of families, many of whom should have been eligible for asylum. While parents were incarcerated for crossing the border, children were forced into detention camps.
Pediatricians and mental health professionals agree that forced separation is destructive to the foundation for development of resilience and self-regulation (Teicher, 2018). The parental trauma of losing a child is what the Trump administration weaponized to act as a deterrent for families planning to come to the United States. Accompanied by countless comments from President Trump, the handling of immigration issues highlights the not-so-subtly tyrannical beginnings of his presidency.
In a speech announcing his run for presidency in 2015, Donald Trump stated:
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…. They’re sending people that have lots of problems…. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
Then Candidate Trump, 2015
In a debate on Fox News, Corey Lewandowski (Trump’s 2016 Campaign Manager) responded to the story of a child with Down Syndrome being taken from her mother at the border with a mocking “Womp womp” (Haag, 2018). When his opponent, Zac Petkanas, pointed out the lack of empathy, Lewandowski defended his derision:
When you cross the border illegally, when you commit a crime, you are taken away from your family because that’s how this country works.
Children of all ages were separated from their parents after Trump’s Zero Tolerance Policy went into effect, and experts insist that due to the trauma they endured we have no way of knowing exactly how this experience will influence their mental and physical health down the line. Teicher explains that while the children ranged in age from infants to teenagers, each subset experiences a unique combination of age-specific effects. As of 2020, most (but not all) families have been reunited and can hopefully repair the harm that has been inflicted on them (ACLU, 2020).
The impact of forced separation by the Trump administration will not end when children and parents are reunited. Many will live in fear that this will happen again, and this can have enduring epigenetic effects on the stress response system.
Teicher, 2018
Professor Bhabha from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health described the Zero-Tolerance policy as “a legal gray area.” Bhabha explained that international law requires the recognition of a child’s best interest, and emphasizes the practice of removing a child from parental custody only if they are endangered or mistreated. To use family separation as a cruel deterrent for others is a violation of the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Bhabha also notes that while the United States has signed onto it, it is one of only three countries in the world (and the only member of the UN) to have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and hence is not bound by it (Bhabha, 2018).
Leaders who advocated and advanced a policy tantamount to state sponsored child abuse should be held accountable. Anyone callous enough to treat children of refugees in this way can hardly be trusted to treat other people’s children, even those of American citizens, in a wise and caring manner.
Teicher, 2018, p. 3
Children as young as three years old were expected to defend their asylum claim in court. According to Jewett and Luthra for NBC News, some two-thousand children were not entitled to court appointed attorneys, and instead were given a list of possible resources (Jewett, Luthra, 2018).
Speaking of detention centers in the United States, Oregon’s Senator Merkley said:
We made this mistake during World War II, and to this day it remains one of the darkest stains upon our nation. We cannot allow ourselves to repeat this moral catastrophe. Congress needs to prevent this cruel and inhumane strategy from going forward — and I will do everything in my power to stop it.
Office of US Senator Jeff Merkley, 2018
Early in 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services reported that California Border Patrol provided false information, such as number of families detained and the real reasons for their detainment (SPLC, 2020).
References
ACLU (2020). Family Separation by the Numbers. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/family-separation
Bhabha, J. (2018). Separation at the border [Interview by C. Sweeney]. Retrieved November 14, 2018, from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/separation-at-the-border/
Haag, M. (2018, June 20). ‘Womp Womp’: Corey Lewandowski Mocks Child with Down Syndrome Separated from Mother. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/business/media/corey-lewandowski-womp-womp-down-syndrome.html
Human Rights Watch. 25th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (2014, November 18). Retrieved November 25, 2018, from https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/17/25th-anniversary-convention-rights-child
Jewett, C., & Luthra, S. (2018, June 28). Toddlers are having to appear in border courts all alone. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/defendants-diapers-immigrant-toddlers-appear-court-alone-n887356
MacKenzie, M., Bosk, E., & Zeanah, C. (2017). Separating Families at the Border — Consequences for Children’s Health and Well-Being. The New England Journal of Medicine, 2314–2315. Retrieved November 16, 2018. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1703375
Office of US Senator Jeff Merkley, Office of the Deputy Communications Director. (2018, October 10). MERKLEY INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO STOP TRUMP’S INTERNMENT CAMP AGENDA [Press release]. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/press-releases/merkley-introduces-legislation-to-stop-trumps-internment-camp-agenda
Perreira, K & Ornelas, I (2011). The physical and psychological well-being of immigrant children. The Future of Children., 21(1), 195–218.
Santhanam, L. (2018, June 18). How the toxic stress of family separation can harm a child. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/how-the-toxic-stress-of-family-separation-can-harm-a-child
Shonkoff, J. P., Garner, A. S., Siegel, B. S., Dobbins, M. I., Earls, M. F., Garner, A. S., . . . Wood, D. L. (2011). The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress. Pediatrics, 129(1). doi:10.1542/peds.2011–2663
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). (2020). Family separation under the Trump administration — a timeline. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/06/17/family-separation-under-trump-administration-timeline
Suárez-Orozco, C., Todorova, I. L., & Louie, J. (2002). Making Up for Lost Time: The Experience of Separation and Reunification Among Immigrant Families. Family Process, 41(4), 625–643. doi:10.1111/j.1545–5300.2002.00625.x
Teicher, Martin H. (2018). Childhood trauma and the enduring consequences of forcibly separating children from parents at the United States border. BMC Medicine, 16(1), 146.
Van Ecke, Y. (2005). IMMIGRATION FROM AN ATTACHMENT PERSPECTIVE. Social Behavior and Personality,33(5), 467–476. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
