The following statement is attributable to Kathryn Hampton, deputy director of the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Asylum Program, in response to news that the Biden administration is exiting negotiations over compensation for families separated at the border:
“It is beyond shameful that President Biden’s Department of Justice is standing with the Trump administration officials who ripped babies from their parents’ arms, who lied to children and parents about the locations of their loved ones, who intentionally inflicted severe pain to coerce and intimidate people exercising their right to seek asylum.
“Physicians for Human Rights has documented the profound psychological harms and trauma endured by survivors of family separation, which include PTSD, depression, and anxiety that persist to this day. In all of the cases we analyzed, the Trump administration’s forced family separations constituted torture and temporary enforced disappearance.
“Instead of bowing to right-wing ideologues, the Biden administration should pursue justice and accountability for the deeply traumatized children and parents who endured these atrocious acts perpetrated by the United States government. The survivors deserve transformative reparations and recompense – including but not limited to financial settlements – which would offer a measure of justice in the wake of this disgraceful chapter of American history.”
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.