Migrant Misery = Torture

The trauma Donald Trump’s administration caused to young children and parents separated at the US-Mexico border constitutes torture, according to the group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). 

Most met the criteria for at least one mental health condition, including post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder “consistent with, and likely linked to, the trauma of family separation”, according to the report. Not only did the brutal family separation policy create trauma, it was intensified by the families’ previous exposure to violence on their journey to the US and in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

The report co-author Dr Ranit Mishori, senior medical adviser at PHR, told the Guardian, “It is beyond shocking that this could happen in the United States, by Americans, at the instruction and direct intention of US government officials.”

Dr Stuart Lustig, a California-based psychiatrist and long-time volunteer said: “Part of the work is simply building trust in humanity again.”