Family Separation Is Systemic and Devastating

"The image of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos standing at the knees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, dressed in a blue bunny snow hat and a Spiderman backpack, recently spurred national outrage. Liam and his father were taken into custody in their Minneapolis suburb shortly after arriving home on January 20, 2026. Both were sent to a detention facility in Texas. According to their attorney, Liam and his family entered the United States legally, seeking asylum, and were detained unlawfully."

"Family Separation Is Systemic As a child psychiatrist committed to health equity, I recognize that family separation is systemic and that its harm extends far beyond immigration enforcement. Child welfare, foster care, and juvenile justice follow the same logic-separating families in the name of safety. In practice, though, they often end up causing predictable harm through separation, surveillance, and displacement that land hardest on Black and Brown communities."

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were detained and sent to a Texas facility after arriving home, reportedly seeking asylum. Family separation increases children's risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, heart disease, and shortened life expectancy. Witnessing other children disappear and fears of deportation reduce healthcare use and school attendance, harming community health and learning. Eleven-year-old Jocelynn Rojo Carranza experienced bullying over immigration status and later died by suicide after classmates threatened to call immigration on her parents. Child welfare, foster care, and juvenile justice often separate families under the guise of safety, causing predictable harm that falls hardest on Black and Brown communities. Mental health providers can legitimize detention by treating children in settings that produce psychological harm.

Read at Psychology Today