The Failure of Two Administrations to Ethically Treat Families Seeking Safety in the US
By Adia Smith ’25
In recent months, the Biden administration has been promoting its fight to reunite separated migrant families at the US-Mexico border, a phenomenon that originated under the Trump administration. However, a deeper look into this campaign reveals ongoing atrocities and a distressing neglect of human rights by both administrations.
During Trump’s four years as president, his “zero tolerance policy” took about 5,000 children away from their families without any hope for reunion. If the family had tried to cross legally, the children were separated and sent to a different detention center or foster care in the US while their parents struggled to gain citizenship. If the family had tried to cross illegally, the children were again sent to detention or foster care, while their parents were sent to jail. In either situation, minimal records were kept, making it almost impossible for families to find each other after they were separated and scattered across the country.
Biden has publicly stated that separating families and children is “criminal.” Nevertheless, families are still being separated at the border. While it happens less frequently, this is still a human rights violation. From July 10 to August 2, 2023, border police in Texas separated at least 26 families. In some cases, the police cut the wire of the wall to let migrants through simply to arrest them. Unlike the zero-tolerance policy, they now take men from their families instead of children from their parents. The men are taken to separate detention centers and held indefinitely. Once again, minimal records are kept about the whereabouts of the men or their families, making it impossible for them to reunite. Even though the Biden Administration has helped reunite 600 of the 4,500 children confirmed to have been separated under the “no tolerance policy,” they continue to tear families apart.
Besides the fact that separation of families is unethical, a 2018 study revealed that the separation could have lasting impacts on the health of the children. The children’s lives already lack stability; taking them away from their parents is the final straw. Alan Shapiro, a professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College, said in an interview that the separation almost always led to depressive episodes, self-harm, and stalled development. In the long term, high-stress levels could lead to terminal illness and mental health issues. Studies have shown that there are similar repercussions for the parents, with the separation leading to severe trauma, PTSD, and anxiety.
Although the Trump administration is better known for cruelty against families at the border, the Biden administration has also failed to treat migrants fairly and humanely. The two presidents may have created their systems with the good of the American public in mind, but by doing so, they ignored the pain and suffering it would inflict on innocent families. The democracy we live in is supposed to work for the common people’s best interest, which means giving migrants seeking shelter in the US a haven. Our immigration system needs major reform so that these atrocities cannot continue. The separation of families is dehumanizing, and this treatment shows how drastically imaginary borders can affect the way humans see and treat each other.
Pictured: A father protects his sleeping child as he tries to cross the US/Mexico border (https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents)