Migrants Told Their Children Are Being Taken Away Briefly To Bathe, Then Separated Permanently, Report Claims
Liz Goodwin, a reporter for the Boston Globe tweeted that a public defender in McAllen said that “some migrants are told their kids are going to be taken away briefly to bathe, and then it dawns on them hours later they aren’t coming back.” The claims have yet to be substantiated by additional sources. However, if the claims are true, it’ll undoubtedly add more fire to the already heated controversy surrounding migrants and the separation of their kids during the asylum-seeking process.
While Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Donald Trump take a hardline approach to handling the influx of migrants seeking asylum in the United States, the consequences of separating parents from their children have been dire in some cases. For example, a father reportedly committed suicide after being separated from his wife and 3-year-old son, reported Inquisitr. The man, Marco Antonio Muñoz, was apparently combative and suffered a mental breakdown.
On the other hand, a young boy named José is reportedly having a hard time adjusting to life with his foster family.
His foster mother, Janice, says that “I am watching history happen before my eyes. It’s horrendous.”
Janice has previously fostered 12 kids while their parents underwent the asylum-seeking process but says that this time, things are different.
“[The kids] had access to their parents on a daily basis… They talked to them on the phone. We have done video chats with Mom and Dad and siblings with every placement — except now.”
Meanwhile, José keeps a stick figure portrait of his family close to him, along with a sketch of his father, detailed the New York Times. When the boy heard fire truck sirens at night, he became fearful, saying “la violencia, la violencia,” as he remembered what it was like in his home country where he was surrounded by violence and crime.
Eventually, José was able to get a phone call with his parents. His father is in detention, his mother in Honduras. It was then that he realized that he would have to wait longer still to find out when he would see his family again.
Meanwhile, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley recently attempted to live stream a tour of a closed-down Walmart that is being used to house migrant children, according to Inquisitr. However, Merkley was turned away, leaving many with questions of what is happening behind closed doors.
Hundreds of migrant kids stuck at border stations. https://t.co/uFbz9xw3Mp@Miguelnbc has more. pic.twitter.com/q97T8IXUVD
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) June 6, 2018
Although the no-tolerance policy of separating parents from their children was meant to dissuade migrants from seeking asylum, those who are determined to escape the deplorable conditions of their home country are willing to do whatever it takes to find a better life. In the meantime, children and parents are forced to brave a strange new country, oftentimes in detention centers, without the comfort of familiar faces.
