Top medical, science groups sharply denounce Trump's family separation policy

MCALLEN, TX - JUNE 12: A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The asylum seekers had rafted across the Rio Grande from Mexico and were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents before being sent to a processing center for possible separation. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is executing the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants' country of origin would no longer qualify them for political asylum status. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) less MCALLEN, TX - JUNE 12: A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The asylum seekers had rafted across the ... more Photo: John Moore, Staff / Getty Images Photo: John Moore, Staff / Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Top medical, science groups sharply denounce Trump's family separation policy 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Top medical and science groups have denounced the Trump administration's policy to separate immigrant families at the border, joining a wave of medical professionals condemning the policies as causing long-term harm to children.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine aissued a statement Wednesday urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to "immediately stop separating migrant children from their families based on the body of scientific evidence that underscores the potential for lifelong, harmful consequences for these children."

"Research indicates that these family separations jeopardize the short- and long-term health and well-being of the children involved," says the statement signed by the presidents of the three academies. "The parent-child relationship and the family environment are at the foundation of children's well-being and healthy development."

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The statement cited research showing that a child's brain develops most rapidly in the earliest years of life, when "nearly all of her or his experiences are shaped by parents and the family environment;" that young children separated from their primary caregivers "may potentially suffer mental health disorders and other adverse outcomes over the course of their lives;" and that young children are capable of "deep and lasting sadness, grief and disorganization in response to trauma and loss."

Also on Wednesday, even as President Donald Trump promised to sign an executive order ending the policy of separating families at the border, American Medical Association CEO Dr. James Madara tweeted his June 19 letter to the heads of Homeland Security and the Department of Health & Human Services and Attorney General Jeffrey Sessions urging the federal government to withdraw its 'zero tolerance' policy.

The letter noted that families compelled to make a dangerous and uncertain journey because of safety concerns in their own countries "already endure emotional and physical stress, which is only exacerbated when they are separated from one another."

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Delegates at the AMA's annual meeting earlier in June approved a resolution opposing the White House policy.

Previously, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Physicians issued statements denouncing the policy.

Todd Ackerman writes about medicine for the Houston Chronicle. He can be reached at todd.ackerman@chron.com or on Twitter@ChronMed.