Wood Laura C N
Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
BMJ Paediatr Open. 2018 Sep 26;2(1):e000338. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000338. eCollection 2018.
In April 2018, the US government introduced a 'zero tolerance' illegal immigration control strategy at the US-Mexico border resulting in the detention of all adults awaiting federal prosecution for illegal entry and the subsequent removal of their children to separate child shelters across the USA. By June 2018, over 2300 immigrant children, including infants, had been separated from their parents for immigration purposes. Media reports and scenes of distraught families ignited global condemnation of US immigration policy and fresh criticism of immigration detention practices. Detention of children for immigration purposes is known to be practised in over 100 countries worldwide, despite a significant body of research demonstrating the extensive harm of such policies. This review explores and contextualises the key potential impacts of family separation and detention of children for immigration purposes including damaged attachment relationships, traumatisation, toxic stress and wider detrimental impacts on immigrant communities. As such, it is critical for host nation governments to cease the practice of family separation and child detention for immigration control and promote postmigration policies that protect children from further harm, promote resilience and enable recovery.
2018年4月，美国政府在美国与墨西哥边境推行了一项“零容忍”非法移民控制策略，导致所有等待联邦起诉非法入境的成年人被拘留，随后他们的孩子被送往美国各地不同的儿童收容所。到2018年6月，超过2300名移民儿童，包括婴儿，因移民原因与父母分离。媒体报道和心烦意乱的家庭场景引发了全球对美国移民政策的谴责以及对移民拘留做法的新批评。尽管大量研究表明此类政策存在广泛危害，但全球仍有100多个国家存在出于移民目的拘留儿童的情况。本综述探讨并结合背景分析了因移民目的导致家庭分离和儿童被拘留的关键潜在影响，包括依恋关系受损、精神创伤、毒性应激以及对移民社区更广泛的不利影响。因此，接收国政府必须停止为移民控制而进行的家庭分离和儿童拘留做法，并推行移民后政策，以保护儿童免受进一步伤害，增强恢复力并促进恢复。
