Clínica Romero Calls On Trump To Expedite Family Reunification

LOS ANGELES - June 21, 2018 - PRLog -- Clínica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero calls on the Trump Administration to end the defamation, persecution, prosecution, and criminalization of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants feeling violence from Central American countries. We call for the immediate return of children to their families, from whom they were separated as a result of the president's "zero policy" aimed at closing the country's borders from illegal entry.

While President Trump's recently signed executive order to keep families together, on the surface, seems to appease mounting outcries from many Americans over his immigration policies, it is nebulous and does not speak to the immediate reunification of families. As a clinic borne out of the Central American refugee crisis of the 70's, 80's, and early 90's, Clínica Romero knows all too well the fear, anxiety, stress, and trauma that families are experiencing, and the long-term effect on their psyche – especially on that of children.

In 1983, Salvadoran refugees and physician volunteers established the clinic in Los Angeles to provide health services to thousands of men, women, and children fleeing the country's 12-year bloody civil war where, according to a 1993 UN Truth Commission report, more than 80,000 people lost their lives. Over the last thirty years, Clínica Romero has worked to help its large immigrant and refugee patient population deal with significant trauma and the stressors that come from escaping violence, undertaking a perilous journey to the U.S., and, once arrived, living in the shadows as an undocumented individual. However, the war's trauma continues to be an open un-healed wound for many in the community exacerbated by recent federal policies that criminalize refugee immigrant parents, and hurt innocent children.

The recorded wailings of children separated from their mothers, and images of children in cages while housed in detention centers miles away are horrific, inhumane, and one that we should not tolerate as a conscientious people. In the last few days the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said that President Trump's policy of separating families "amounts to child abuse," and called for an immediate end to the process. Equally, the head of the American Medical Association said, "childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences created by inhumane treatment often create negative health impacts that can last an individual's entire lifespan."

Today, Clínica Romero joins the increasing number of health care providers and community leaders in asking the Trump administration to end its nefarious and inhumane treatment of Central American refugee children and their families. The child and family abuse must end now!

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About Clínica Monseñor Romero

Clínica Romero was founded in 1983 by Salvadoran refugees and their allies. Our mission is to provide quality, affordable and culturally sensitive health care and other services to the uninsured, insured, and underserved communities of greater Los Angeles regardless of their ability to pay by upholding the legacy and tradition of Monseñor Oscar Romero, and educating and empowering Salvadoran and other community members through community organizing, health education, social justice, and exchange programs in El Salvador.