‘Realistic And Horrific’ Drawings By Detained Migrant Kids Provide Inside Look At Their Traumatic Experiences
"When a child draws this, it's telling us that child felt like he or she was in jail," said Dr. Colleen Kraft, immediate past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The pediatricians' group has been trying to advise Border Patrol on how to screen and care for children in their custody, but Kraft said a series of meetings came to an end without producing concrete results. Meanwhile, separate pediatricians call the care the children are receiving "malpractice."
The Associated Press:
Migrant Child Drawings Depict Jail-Like Scenes Of Detention
In one drawing, stick figures sleep on the ground under blankets watched by other figures with hats. Another picture has frowning stick figures behind what appears to be a chain-link fence. One shows two toilets in a small room. All of the drawings include imposing jail-like bars covering most of the canvas. They were done by children asked to depict their experience in Border Patrol custody and photographed by an American Academy of Pediatrics volunteer last week. (7/5)
CNN:
Pediatricians Share Migrant Children's Disturbing Drawings Of Their Time In US Custody
The staff at the center asked the children to depict their time in CBP custody. A social worker at the center gave the drawings to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which gave them to CNN. "The fact that the drawings are so realistic and horrific gives us a view into what these children have experienced," said Dr. Colleen Kraft, immediate past president of the AAP. "When a child draws this, it's telling us that child felt like he or she was in jail." (Cohen, 7/4)
CNN:
Doctors Describe Black Box Of Medical Care In Detention Facilities: 'That Is Not Medical Care. That's Malpractice'
Pediatricians who have volunteered to work with migrants in El Paso, Texas, are walled off from any contact with "whoever is providing the medical care to these individuals" in government run migrant detention centers, pediatrician Dr. Carlos Gutierrez said Tuesday. "That is not medical care. That's malpractice," said Gutierrez, who has helped treat families received by Annunciation House, a nonprofit that runs temporary residential centers that receives migrants released by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or US Customs and Border Protection. (Christensen and Nedelman, 7/3)
And in other news —
The Wall Street Journal:
As Border Crisis Worsens, A Detention Center Designed For Children Has None
Outfitted with miniature furniture, toys, and rugs with roads painted on them, the government detention center here was designed with young migrants in mind. But the only people being held here right now are adults. While reports of children being detained in crowded Border Patrol stations widely criticized as dirty and unsafe have sparked a national outcry, several facilities run by immigration authorities that are intended for children aren’t being fully used for that purpose. (Frosch and Caldwell, 7/5)
The Associated Press:
Pregnant Teens Especially Vulnerable In Border Centers
As tales of wretchedness and overcrowding in government border detention facilities abound, one group of migrants is particularly vulnerable: teen moms and pregnant girls without parents of their own. Immigrant advocates and lawyers say the young mothers don't get special medical consideration while they're being crammed into U.S. facilities so packed that migrants are forced to sleep on floors or stand for days on end. As a result, the girls say they're underfed, have poor hygiene and their babies get sick. (Galvan, 7/4)
