Lawsuit Claims Migrant Boy Missed Parents So Much He Almost Jumped Out the Window

For a child, being separated from a parent is one of the most difficult things to endure. Unfortunately, it’s been happening at an alarming rate recently down near the border, and understandably some children are having a difficult time adjusting and coping with being ripped from the arms of their mothers and fathers. For example, one migrant boy from South America who was forcibly separated from his parents under the current border policy was “rushed to the hospital after he said he wanted to jump out a window because he missed his parents,” according to a new lawsuit.

For a child, being separated from a parent is one of the most difficult things to endure. Unfortunately, it’s been happening at an alarming rate recently down near the border, and understandably some children are having a difficult time adjusting and coping with being ripped from the arms of their mothers and fathers. For example, one migrant boy from South America who was forcibly separated from his parents under the current border policy was “rushed to the hospital after he said he wanted to jump out a window because he missed his parents,” according to a new lawsuit.

According to court documents, the boy was separated from his “father at the US-Mexico border early this month and was living in a group home in New York City.” At the group home, he was allegedly fell into a depression and understandably missed his family dearly. When his caretakers at the group home learned he wanted to jump out a window because he missed his parents, he was rushing to the hospital. According to the suit, he was “just one of 13 young children who were treated at hospitals for physical and mental illnesses…Some of them were said to be treated for depression and anxiety.”

The complaint filed on behalf of the boy was added to a massive lawsuit filed by seventeen different states against the Trump administration earlier this week “over its now-halted practice of separating immigrant families that cross the US-Mexico border illegally.” Filed in federal court in Seattle, the lawsuit hopes to “force the government to reunite the thousands of families it split apart — and permanently cease family separations.”

Additionally, the lawsuit also accuses the Trump administration’s immigration policy of “undermining New York state’s interest in the health, safety, and well-being of all children who live there by causing severe trauma” to the migrant children being ripped from their parents. In addition, the suit points out that “New York children who live in foster care were afforded more rights than their immigrant counterparts, allowed regular visitation rights even with one or both parents incarcerated.” It also states the following:

“Defendants have made clear that the purpose of separating families is not to protect children, but rather to create a public spectacle designed to deter potential immigrants from coming to the United States, causing severe, intentional, and permanent trauma to the children and parents who are separated in furtherance of an illegitimate deterrence objective.”

It’s important to note, however, that the government is currently working on reuniting children with their families. However, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar revealed earlier this week in front of Congress that an estimated 2,047 “children were still being held in the agency’s custody.”

Sources:

A distraught immigrant boy nearly jumped out a window after being separated from his family, lawsuit says

Immigrant boy wanted to jump out of window after being separated from family, lawsuit says