National Nurses United

on june 19, the daytime temper- ature soared to more than 100 degrees in Tornillo, Texas. Idali Cooper, RN, stared out over a blinding-hot expanse of desert at a new "tent city" internment camp that had recently sprung up there, wishing nurses were allowed to assess the condition of the chil- dren detained inside by federal immigration authorities. An El Paso-area pediatric RN, Cooper was worried about the health of the kids housed there, classified as "unaccompanied minors" even though almost all had been forcibly separated from their parents by the Trump administration's new "zero tolerance" immigration policy implemented that spring. "It's inhumane what we are doing to these children. They should be with their parents," said Cooper, explaining that the "toxic stress" triggered by separation from trusted caregivers can damage the mental and physical health of children for the rest of their lives. "We live in a desert. The temperatures here can reach up to 110, 112, and these kids are being held in a tent. We don't know if they are getting dehydrated. Who is taking care of them?" Cooper and fellow RN members of National Nurses United (NNU) had mobilized at the border and beyond that day and in recent weeks to protest the treatment of immigrant children and families, and to draw attention to health risks associated with not only separating more than 2,300 kids from their parents or guardians (with no clear plan on how to reunite them), but also detaining them in conditions that can be detrimental to their health and safety. Even after the president reversed his policy and signed an executive order to detain families together, nurses continued to protest and not only demand that fami- lies be immediately reunited, but given alternatives to detention. On June 30, hundreds of NNU nurses, many of whom are themselves immigrants and children of immigrants, participated in massive #FamiliesBelongTogether marches and rallies across the country to show the Trump administration that its immigration policies are abhorrent and anti-humanitarian. In addition to desert-based tents, Cooper pointed out how other shel- ters, like a now-infamous converted WalMart in Brownsville, Texas, also keep kids "in crowded conditions, which increases the risk of infectious diseases." A recent New York Times article described a Guatemalan mother's heartbreak after her one allowed phone call with her 8-year-old daughter revealed the little girl had been lonely, "sick and sad" in deten- tion, having contracted pink eye and been put into isolation. The health of child detainees is also concerning to nurses given that they may already have underlying health issues as a result of their stressful journey to the United States, through an extremely harsh landscape, as well as from experiencing poverty and violence in their home countries. "Imagine what these families have been through, walking through the Chihuahuan desert not only for hours, but for days," said El Paso labor and delivery RN Virginia Diaz. "Come live in the desert for a day, and you will see what extreme temperatures we have here. It is so inadequate for children to be held in these tents." N urses care for our border communities, have firsthand experience treating immigrant patients, and also know the health risks associated with housing children in harsh, crowded, traumatic settings. But don't just take RNs' word for it. Years' worth of data from several recent studies and media investi- gations outline how government agency detention centers are no place to keep immigrant kids and families healthy. A Human Rights Watch report titled "Code Red," released June 20, chronicles immigrant deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention due to poor medical care, an issue of great concern to NNU. According to the Human Rights Watch report, "poor medical treatment contributed to more than half the deaths reported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a 16-month period." M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 8 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 13 Nurses say Trump's policy of forcibly separating asylum-seeking parents from their children will cause physical and mental health problems now and down the road. By Kari Jones Unnatural Causes

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