Zero Tolerance at the U.S. Southern Border is a Public Health Crisis

Thomas Britt, MD., MPH

Adverse consequences of abrupt separation of migrant families are tantamount to terrorism, which may lead to psychosomatic trauma to parents and their children. The American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) stands with the American Academy of Pediatrics who recently issued the following statement, “we know that family separation causes irreparable harm to children. This type of highly stressful experience can disrupt the building of children’s brain architecture. Prolonged exposure to serious stress – known as toxic stress – can lead to lifelong health consequences”. Toxic stress is an adverse childhood experience (ACE) that predictably, can lead to substance abuse, suicide attempts, depression, sleep disturbances, high-risk sexual behaviors and other lifetime adverse health outcomes.

Families fleeing horrendous conditions in central America are met at the U.S. southern border, only to face the unthinkable, once again … forced separation without any real assurance that their family will be reunited. Seeking asylum is lawful, therefore refugees deserve respect, health care and counseling consistent with international standards. This anti-immigration Zero Tolerance policy is a costly atrocity that is eroding the soul of America.

Citizens, students, churches, universities, professional organizations and legislators must speak up. Now is not the time to be silent. As a group of public health physicians, dedicated to maintaining and improving the public’s health, we find this new policy to be racist, abhorrent, dysfunctional, damaging to all concerned and inconsistent with the best of American values. We must advocate that this ill-conceived Zero Tolerance policy ceases and Congress enact legislation that will prevent this and other historical atrocities from occurring again. Let us not forget centuries of slavery, the decimation of Native Americans and the continued adverse repercussions, incident to those poor, equally abhorrent, inhumane policies. As such, the Board of Directors of the American Association of Public Health Physicians clearly states that criminalizing those seeking a reprieve from horrid conditions within their native countries is an unwanted and unsustainable retrograde descent to the deplorable history of the United States.

Therefore, the AAPHP is united with those individuals and organizations opposing this intolerable policy for the alleged reason(s) publicized by our administration. We also strongly encourage diligence in accessing the status of those children already separated from their parents.

American Association of Public Health Physicians … Guardians of the Public’s Health

^{Note: This article has been expressly approved for presentation on the Health Policy Institute’s web site by the AAPHP, 18 Sep 2020.}

^{Thomas Brit, MD, MPH is also the President of the American Association of Public Health Physicians}