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Kenzie Stokes

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 3

12 April 2019

The Psychological Effects Detention Centers have on Undocumented Immigrant Minors

One of the biggest political topics in America is immigration, especially immigrants from

Central and South America. There have been debates on what the Government should do with

these people who come over seeking help, and if America should use taxpayers money to build a

wall on the Mexican-American border. In 2016 there were about 10.4 million undocumented

immigrants in the United States. Every year hundreds of thousands of people cross the

Mexico-American border to enter the United states and find a safer, better life. People are

running from horrors like gang violence, drugs, and many more dangers. They also cross to try

and find a better home for their children. In a lot of South American countries children cannot go

to school due to gangs overthrowing their towns. One of the biggest and most prominent gangs is

MS-13, they have complete control over San Salvador as well as El Salvador and try to recruit as

many children as possible, they watch children walk to school and then try to convince them to

join the gang. If the children refuse the gang members will murder them. In one of the most

severe cases a boy went missing on the way home from school and a day later police found his

dismembered body buried in a field. He was 11. There are so many reasons for parents to send

their children over to America. The only problem is they end up being put in children detention

centers, being in these prison-like facilities can cause psychological damage to the children.

Even in family detention centers minors have shown to have high psychological damage.
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There are detention centers all along the Mexican-American border. One of the biggest

immigrant child detention centers is Casa Padre, a former Super-Walmart, located in

Brownsville, Texas (Paiella). In this detention center there are a little over 1,400 boys under 18,

and about 5% of them have been separated from their parents. Before these young boys are

allowed access inside they are tested for tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases and other life

threatening illnesses, they also receive up to date vaccinations. This detention center is currently

overcrowded and has harsh living conditions. As soon as one enters Casa Padre they are greeted

with a mural of Donald Trump with the words, “Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new

way to win the war.” This quote was taken directly from one of his twitter posts from May 2014.

At Casa Padre kids are only aloud to go outside for two hours a day; one hour is structured time

and the other hour is free time. The rest of the day they are forced to stay inside the detention

center, this has shown to be very damaging on the children’s overall health, mental and physical.

One reporter named Jacob Soboroff was invited to tour the facility, when he was inside he was

told to smile at the children because “they feel like animals in a cage being looked at.” In an

article by the New Internationalist titled, ​Making a Killing ​they talked about how cruel the

immigration centers really are, specifically the one in texas, “In Australia, this facility couldn't

even serve as a dog kennel. The owners would be jailed.” (18) Soboroff also said that the way

the children were living and how they were being treated reminded him of some of the jails he's

toured before.

There are very few adult detention centers in America, if adults come as a family they

will most likely stay in family detention centers. If they come alone they will either stay in an

adult detention center or they will be detained in criminal facilities, even sometimes maximum
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security prisons, which is the exact opposite of what asylum seeking immigrants need. Having

immigrants stay in high security

prisons is shown to make them feel

like horrible criminals that deserve

this punishment. For minors they

stay in the detention centers and are

moved to federal or high security

prisons as soon as they turn 18

(Bochenek 20-22). Most illegal

immigrants, when crossing the

border to seek a safe home, have no

idea what to expect. They cross the

border with no idea that if they do

they will be forced to spend months

in a jail-like-environment, and have

no idea what rules are put in place at

these centers; therefore, this greatly affects their psychological well being. There are many

articles and studies done by professionals on how sever the psychological damage can be on

anyone staying in detention centers. These studies have been presented to the government and

the government does nothing to help change rules and fix the problems. Once the immigrants are

aloud to leave, they are either told to go back to their home country or are given a pass to stay in

the United States (Chavarria 21).

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Studies have shown that even if immigrants don't show any signs of psychological

damage before entering detention center most of them show signs after only a few months of

staying at these centers. Studies show that because of the damaging effects detention centers

have on people, it's harder for them to integrate into society and start working because of all the

trauma they've been through (Suárez-Orozco 5). The most affected group is women and children

twelve to eighteen. In an interview with Bret Ellsworth he stated that women are one of the most

damaged groups because they are often raped and beat on their journey and they are forced to

take care of young children through these trials, alone. Minors are also the most affected because

they are forced to have adult responsibilities at such a young age, they are thrust into adult roles

when they are not psychologically prepared.

PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other mental health diseases have major impacts on a

developing child. New Scientific research has shown that the child's positive and negative

experiences can shape the brain. Studies show that the more a child witnesses violence the more

neurotransmitters in the brain create feelings of fear and violence. Because so much of the

development in the brain is focused on these feeling it decreases growth in the part of the brain

that helps with planning, reading, and behavioral control (Witnessing Violence).

Another big problem minors face is the fear of being deported and who will represent

them in deportation court. All minors who come across the bearder will have to go to court to

figure out if they are eligible to stay inside the United States. While in court the children must

plead for asylum wich means their home country is too dangerous to return to. In court one must

have a lawyer to represent them, sadly none of the minors who cross come with enough money

to higher a lawyer. In some cases children do get a lawyer, highered by sponsors to represent
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them in court, about 14% of children receive this help (Bochenek). Sadly 87% of kids will be

deported in they do not have a lawyer whereas if the are represented the rate drops to 24%. These

children are 10 times more likely to stay in the country if they are represented by a lawyer.

Children as young as three years old are forced to represent themselves in court, these children

speak no English and can barely understand their own native tongue. Children of all ages are

thrust into a difficult complex legal system they cannot understand. When Trump entered office

in 2016 he made the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) start doing complete background

checks and fingerprinting on sponsors who help these kids out instead of letting them be

anonymous. The only problem with this is that most sponsors are undocumented immigrants

themselves. Because of this rule more and more children cannot get sponsors and will have to

stay in the detention centers for prolonged periods of time, causing them to have a higher risk for

mental sickness and psychological well being (Madrid 7-10).

Thousands of children are put through these trying situations ever year. These harrowing

experiences put a lot of physiological strain and an individual and this will affect the way they

live out the rest of their lives. Detention centers are no place to put children in need of a new,

safter home, these children are traumatized from the events they have seen in their home

countries and just want to finally live in a safe new country. The detention centers damage the

children's mental health which is not good while their brains are still in the developing process.

People are petitioning for the government to change the ways they treat these children and give

them a better, easier way to get into the United States. One of the best things people can do is try

and look at these immigrant situation with an open mind. The immigrants go through so much

and are trying to find a better, safer home.

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Works Cited

Bochenek, Michael Garcia. “No Way to Treat Children Fleeing Danger.” ​Harvard

International Review​, vol. 38, no. 3, Summer 2017, pp. 18–23. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=123620522&site=ehost-live.

Chavarria, Andrea F. “The treatment of Children Detained by United States Immigration

Authorities and the Consequences and Challenges.”

https://bettercarenetwork.org/sites/default/files/Revista-nr-45-46.pdf#page=23

Ellsworth, Brent G. e-mail interview. 8 April 2019.

Laughland, Oliver. “Making a Killing. ​New Internationalist, 2​ 4 July 2019,

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/24/manus-island-rape-detainees

Madrid, Manuel. “Locking Up the Children: The Trump Administration’s Treatment of

Migrant Children as Potential Criminals Has Meant Lengthy Incarcerations for

Thousands--and an Unwelcome Shift in Mission for the Government’s Child Welfare

Specialists.” ​American Prospect,​ vol. 29, no. 4, Fall 2018, pp. 7–10. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=132438057&site=ehost-live.

Paiella, Gabriella. “Chilling Photo Shows Huge Mural of Trump in Detention Center for

Migrant Kids.” ​The Cut, 1​ 4 June 2018,

www.thecut.com/2018/06/detention-center-migrant-children-trump-mural.html

Suárez-Orozco, Carola. “APA Wants Congress to Address MH Needs of Immigrant Children.”

Mental Health Weekly,​ vol. 20, no. 29, Aug. 2010, p. 5. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tth&AN=52706637&site=ehost-live.
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“Witnessing Violence Can Change a Kids Mind.” ​Childhood Trauma,

changingmindsnow.org/?gclid=CjwKCAjwy7vlBRACEiwAZvdx9uq0GeRhuggAO1W_

KGg5NdwYAJ8DDd-dFg_1QBLcbtYrhRzwr_8ElxoC3JgQAvD_BwE.