Family Separation at the US and Mexico Border Continues

Abstract

Record-breaking levels of asylum seeking by families with young children continue at the United States/Mexico border, particularly the Rio Grande Valley sector. In this Commentary, our aim is to increase awareness by providing child and adolescent mental health care providers with an update on current migrant conditions, bringing to light issues of family separation previously highlighted in the Journal.¹ For context, our international group has collected data, via 3 large-scale studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, from more than 600 Latinx immigrants seeking asylum at the US/Mexico border in the last 4 years, during which levels of violence, climate disruption, and poverty in the Northern Triangle of Central America (ie, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) and Mexico have propelled high and sustained levels of asylum seeking in the United States. We contribute expertise in clinical psychology, Latinx psychology, attachment disruption, and public health, as well as this front-row perspective.