STUDY FINDS IMMIGRATION DETENTION HARMS CHILDREN’S MENTAL, PHYSICAL HEALTH
“The results of this study are deeply disturbing and establish that there is no humane way to detain children and no version of family detention that is acceptable,” says Javier Hidalgo, legal director at RAICES. “Many of these children were detained for prolonged periods, often under unsafe and unsanitary living conditions and without access to basic human rights, in direct violation of applicable standards including those protections set out in the precedent-setting Flores Settlement Agreement.”
Vasileia Digidiki, instructor at the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, adds, “Detention is never in the best interest of children. The conditions that we documented in this study evidence a lack of some fundamental protections owed to children, whatever their immigration status.”
