Newsweek

Border Separation Could Lead to Depression and Disease

A huge amount of data have shown that traumatic events like this pose clear risks to the mental and physical health of children.
A temporary detention center for undocumented underage immigrants in Tornillo, Texas, near the US-Mexico border, as seen from Valle de Juarez, in Chihuahua state, Mexico on June 18, 2018. The forced separation of young children from their parents could have long-term mental health consequences.
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The current federal policy of separating children from parents crossing illegally into the United States at the southern border has drawn ire from many angles. Chief among the concerns are the consequences that this separation may have on the mental health of the children as well as their parents.

Dr. Paul Spiegel is the director of the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to joining Hopkins, Spiegel spent more than 14 years at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), starting the HIV program and serving as chief of public health. He has also worked with the Emergency Refugee Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as Doctors Without Borders. In these various capacities, Spiegel has provided aid in numerous humanitarian crises, including the mass arrival of Syrian

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