The Associated Press reports how Trump's officials are forcibly separating migrant babies and other young children from their parents and sending them to what is being referred to as "tender age" shelters.
Doctors and lawyers who visited these institutions note that they are both sanitary and safe, but have witnessed several children wailing for their parents, whilst also acting out -- itself, disturbing enough. South Texas paediatrician Marsha Griffin explains how "the shelters aren’t the problem, it’s taking kids from their parents that’s the problem."
These "tender age" facilities resemble the more antiquated orphanage, which were outlawed decades ago over concerns of leaving lasting emotional/psychological trauma on children.
"The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it," reckons Kay Bellor, vice president of programs at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, an organization that provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. "Toddlers are being detained," akin to a prison sentence.
Lawmakers, including Republicans, have been quick to denounce the ramifications of the "zero tolerance" policy, with Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, calling it a "chilling phase we will soon not forget."
Steven Wagner, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services, believes that these shelters are far from inhumane. "We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs, and 'tender age' children — as we define as under 13 — would fall into that category,” he said. “They’re not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and they’re staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs — particularly of the younger children."
Since the enactment of this "zero tolerance" policy in May, it's been revealed that more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents at the US-Mexican border. Protests against this disgusting policy are being scheduled for June 30th in Washington, D.C., as well as other cities across the States.