The migration crisis associated with the US-Mexico border in 2019 was a significant dramatic event in United States history. The Trump administration was concerned with the negative consequences of migration and tried to reduce the number of migrants. The economic and political conditions caused severe conflict between Mexico and US. This crisis had a significant impact on the US citizens’ perception of the ruling power. The violent attitude toward migrants and their children questioned the policy of Trump. Moreover, those events caused psychological trauma to children separated from their parents.
When the problem was at its peak, the Mexican authorities sent military personnel to guard the border. It happened because the US authorities announced that they intended to stop providing financial assistance to different cities in Mexico (Alvarez, 2021). Those actions were taken since the authorities of Mexico, from the point of view of the Washington government, were not taking the necessary measures to prevent the migration crisis.
In May 2019, US border guards detained more than one hundred people on the borders. Children were put in inappropriate conditions, being separated from their parents until getting the official migration permit. When following a complaint by a group of lawyers, the US authorities have provided better conditions for hundreds of children of illegal immigrants who have been deprived of emergency supplies. Some of the children were transferred to a US Department of Health center (Alvarez, 2021). Such a harmful experience can cause negative psychological consequences in the developing immigrants’ children’s brains. Psychopathology caused by the humiliation and separation from parents may have contributed to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Psychological trauma is the condition when the human brain experiences negative influences. Usually, it is caused by life-threatening events which are correlated with different disasters or humiliating human activities. According to practical research, intentional harmful human activities have the most severe impacts on the brain (Cohen, 2016). As a result of such an attitude, people are at significant risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (Cohen, 2016). It is especially dangerous when children are exposed to such traumatic events. This negative experience can affect their psychology in adulthood and cause personality disorders and other severe problems.
The horrifying events on the border in 2019 affected the psychological state of the children and their parents. As far as intentional violence from people is the most dangerous experience children can witness, they are likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder. It will affect their lives in adulthood and change the world’s perception completely. The most apparent symptom of psychological trauma is abrupt anxiety (Cohen, 2016). Migrants believed that they would be protected in the US. However, contrary to their expectations, the government violated primitive moral laws depriving people of food and water as a regulating measure. Moreover, children were separated from their parents, who were supposed to protect them (Cohen, 2016). As a result, the psychological harm is aggravated by delusional expectations.
Children experienced the emotions of betrayal accompanied by adverse living conditions. They were left without knowing what to expect from the world around them. As a result, under the pressure of post-traumatic syndrome, children may have difficulties communicating and building trustful relations push with friends and family in adulthood. The uncontrollable anxiety and fear of betrayal will hurt the process of self-identification. Such adverse conditions can negatively influence the children’s particular brain regions (Teicher, 2018). Due to unstable emotions and impulse control, children are highly exposed to psychological damage. Such symptoms as anxiety, panic attacks, depression, fear of communication, and disturbing world perception may result from the violence experienced in childhood.
Children should never be separated from their parents, especially during difficult periods of their lives. The separation alone provokes a high-stress level in the child’s psychology. The discussed situation was aggravated by the fact that children were in life-threatening conditions. Thus, the level of stress was maximized and might have disturbed the normal functioning of the brain. These conditions and stress experiences might have caused psychological problems in the unstable children’s minds. They will likely face difficulties with socialization and communication in the future. There is a high chance of other dangerous psychological illnesses development, such as multiple or personality disorders, caused by the traumatic experience. Forcible separation from children is likely to affect the parents’ psychology too. Even though adults’ brains are more stable, they are also exposed to the stress of being separated from their children (Teicher, 2018). If they had the traumatic experience earlier, they are at a higher risk of developing mental problems such as depression and anxiety (Cohen, 2016). The events on the US-Mexico border were traumatic for both migrants and their children.
Therefore, Trump’s anti-migration actions have significantly affected the psychological state of the people striving to get protection from the US. Violent and humiliating conditions harmed adult immigrants and, what is more dangerous, children’s psychology. Being separated from their parents, children were exposed to a high level of stress. Such a disturbance of unstable brain functioning can lead to significant mental problems in adulthood, causing dangerous trauma. It is essential to analyze these incidents and try to prevent a similar situation in the future to ensure the solid mental health of the next generation.
References
Alvarez, P. (2021). How the current US-Mexico border crisis compares with the peak of the Trump era in 2019? CNN politics. Web.
Cohen, L. (2016). The psychology of trauma: The psychological impact of trauma. In L., Cohen (Ed.), Handy Answer: The handy psychology: Answer book (pp. 287-295). Visible Ink Press.
Teicher, M. (2018). Childhood trauma and the enduring consequences of forcibly separating children from parents at the United States border. BMC Medicine, 45(7), 1–3. Web.