WASHINGTON – Following is a statement by Sandra L. Shullman, PhD, president of the American Psychological Association, regarding the recent extension of a federal court order for the release of immigrant children from family detention centers run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement:
“As psychologists committed to safeguarding and promoting children’s mental health and well-being, we urge ICE to immediately act on the federal court order to release immigrant children held in three family detention centers by the extended July 27 deadline. With a reported number of 1,100 positive coronavirus cases among detainees in ICE custody as of July 15, it is essential that immigrant children be released quickly to protect them from COVID-19, which has proven difficult to control in confined settings.
“It is also imperative that the children held in the ICE family detention centers be released together with their parents. Decades of psychological research show that children separated from their parents can suffer severe psychological distress, resulting in anxiety, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, withdrawal, aggressive behavior, and decline in educational achievement. The longer the parent and child are separated, the greater the child's symptoms of anxiety and depression become. We hope ICE will move quickly to release these children and their families. It is the right thing to do.”