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A group of medical professionals has composed a letter they’ve sent to the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to advocate for children being held in immigration detention. The letter was signed by thousands of medical professionals who also fear for the well-being of the detained children.
Anita K. Patel, Ashley Marie Cozzo, and Lara Jones are all board-certified pediatricians and professors of pediatrics. They collaborated to write the letter addressed to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The letter calls for the implementation of medical guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics to immediately release all children in immigration detention.
Dr. Cozzo is an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Her specialty is in neonatal-perinatal medicine.
“We know that with overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor infection control, inadequate nutrition, and inadequate sleep, the immediate health risk to infants and children is largely infectious, as was the case in Juan Nicolás,” Cozzo said.
Nicolás is the two-month-old baby held in the Dilley, Texas site south of San Antonio who developed bronchitis, and was then deported with his family to Mexico.
Dr. Patel works in Washington D.C. with pediatric critical care medicine as her specialization. She attended President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday as a guest of U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro.
“It’s not just child detention. This is child imprisonment in substandard living conditions,” said Patel. “They are knowingly exposing them to potentially deadly infectious diseases.”
Cozzo said their letter demands transparency for the unique needs of children and their well-being.
“Children are not tiny adults,” said Cozzo. “I cannot overemphasize that enough. They have unique physiological needs dependent on their age which puts them at a different level of risk than adults.”
On the form that went out to signatories, the pediatricians were able to gather representation from across the country by asking people where they live. More than 3,900 signatures from 49 states were gathered for the letter.
Patel said contacting local representatives is the biggest weapon for demanding accountability from DHS. “In whatever state you live in, you’ve got to hammer your senators and reps,” she said. “They log every single call and why you called. And they care about you, because you are their vote.”
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) in San Antonio reports 300 to 500 children and infants are detained by ICE on any given day in Texas.
Great Job Kory Cook & the Team @ Texas Public Radio for sharing this story.
