04/15/2025
Trump's detention policies hurt kids. We know, we're pediatricians. | Opinion
Under Trump administration immigration policies, children living in this country, some of whom are citizens, are being torn away from their communities and placed in detention facilities.
Opinion contributors: Sural Shah and Raul Gutierrez
Living in their communities one day and facing an uncertain future the next: This is the scary reality for some children and families right now. Living in fear that at any moment, the life they’ve known and built in our country could be taken away from them.
Unlike past presidential administrations, which used detention centers to house families arriving at the border, the current administration has expanded the use of these facilities to target immigrant and mixed-status families already living in the United States. This means that children living in this country, some of whom are citizens, are being torn away from their communities and placed in detention facilities.
As pediatricians, we know that detention harms child health. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) strongly opposes family detention, citing overwhelming evidence of its negative impact on children's physical and mental health and development.
Recently, AAP joined with 10 other leading medical and mental health organizations in urging the Trump administration to abandon efforts to detain families.
Children in detention face physical, mental long-term harm
Children belong in their communities, going to school and playing with friends on the playground – not held in prison-like conditions.
Conversations with children and their families who have experienced family detention underscore what AAP’s policy states: Children who have experienced detention are vulnerable to short- and long-term psychological effects.
Children who experience detention often become withdrawn and quiet; their parents frequently describe depression, anxiety and post-traumatic symptoms such as behavior regression that can last well beyond the time they spent in detention. Some children experience developmental delays or have self-injurious behavior or suicidal thoughts.
These types of traumatic experiences also affect children's physical development. Stress caused by detention commonly damages brain architecture, and the long-term health consequences can persist into adulthood.
The effect of detention was also found to undermine parental authority and the parents’ capacity to meet their child’s needs, causing significant strain in the parent-child relationship. The effects of detention on the mental health of parents included depression, anxiety and a sense of hopelessness.
Beyond the trauma, research shows that families detained in these facilities often face inadequate medical, dental and mental health care, which is especially troubling given that reports have shown that in the past families can be housed in these facilities for far longer than federal limits allow.
Detention centers commonly rely on expensive emergency room visits to provide medical care, and reports have shown delays in access to care, which can have life-threatening consequences.
In 2018, a toddler died from an infection contracted at the now-reopened detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Children should never be detained. Choose compassion over cruelty.
The AAP has long called for U.S. immigration policy to prioritize the best interests of children in all decisions. Family detention is a dangerous practice – one that we must end immediately. Children should never be detained and they should never be separated from their families unless there is a clear, imminent risk to their safety.
Families living in this country should be able to access health care, attend school and live free from the threat of detention and deportation.
We, as a nation, can do better. We can create immigration policies that are both secure and humane – policies that prioritize children’s dignity, safety and health. It’s time to choose compassion over cruelty.
Sural Shah, MD, is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and chair-elect of the academy's Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health. Raul Gutierrez, MD, is also a fellow of the academy and current chair of the Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health.
