Trauma at the Border: The Human Cost of Inhumane Immigration Policies

By The U.S. Civil Rights Commission

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights last addressed civil rights and constitutional concerns in connection with the immigration detention of families and children, including conditions of detention centers in its 2015 report, With Liberty and Justice for All: The State of Civil Rights at Immigration Detention Facilities(“2015 Report”).  In 2018, public reports documented worsening conditions at the southern border. Changes in federal policy further resulted in substantially increased law enforcement activity at the southern border and the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents. Recent developments have resulted in serious civil rights implications, including the protection of the physical and mental well-being of both adult and child immigration detainees and their due process rights. In light of these concerns the Commission formed a bipartisan subcommittee and reopened its 2015 Report to update its investigation of the immigration detention of families and children.  The subcommittee ) sought information from the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, ) held a public comment session where it took in testimony from experts, impacted individuals, witnesses to the impacts of family separation, and other interested members of the public, and solicited written comments from the public….

Washington, DC: USCCR, 2019. 208p.