Lyndon Haviland

Opinion contributor

The abrupt resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reignited the debate over President Donald Trump’s border policies and his pledge to build a wall. But what continues to be lost in the national conversation on illegal immigration is the crisis involving the abuse of children while in U.S. “care” at the Mexico boundary.

The real emergency is the crisis involving the abuse of children while in U.S. “care” at the Mexico boundary. Over 2,700 children were separated from their families near the border in 2018, and at least 200 of them remain separated today as part of President Trump’s border policy. Worse, thousands of kids have been, and continue to be, subjected to sexual abuse while they’ve been detained by U.S. authorities.

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., recently released documents showing that the Department of Health and Human Services received over 4,500 complaints of alleged sexual abuse of unaccompanied minors from October 2014 to last July. Jonathan Hayes, the acting director of HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), told Congress that the agency recorded 178 alleged instances where there was facility-staff-on-minor misconduct over the past four years.

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But Hayes was quick to specify those incidents did not involve federal staff, and he admonished Deutch for insinuating that HHS staff personnel were the ones who committed the abuse.

Children being abused don’t care whether the abuser is a contractor or a federal employee. All they know is that the place they risked everything to reach, in hopes of finding a better life, became hell. Soon-to-be former Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen has offered scant remorse or acknowledgement of the trauma being inflicted on children in our care. And she seems entirely unaware or apathetic toward the stress that forced separation and sexual abuse can cause children, and she has shown little empathy for the kids or families impacted by her department.

Abuse has lifelong mental, physical effects

Simply because these children may have entered the country illegally doesn’t mean they forfeit their rights to being treated with dignity and respect. And it certainly doesn’t entitle those entrusted with their protection the right to commit unspeakable crimes against helpless minors under their care and supervision.

All of it raises bigger questions: What is our U.S. border policy regarding the protection of detained children from sexual abuse? What prevention measures are being deployed to try to stop it before it happens? What training is being done to ensure facility staff members know how to prevent abuse and spot the warning signs? What protocols are in place allowing workers to report suspected abusers without fear of retribution? What counseling support are we offering children in U.S. custody? And who, ultimately, is responsible for making sure the children processed at the border are safe from on-site predators?

Pediatricians know that adverse childhood events can cause irreparable harm and lead to severe mental and physical health issues throughout a survivor’s lifetime. Nowhere is that risk more real than to those enduring abuse as they cross the border and reach our country.

Put differences aside and end this abuse

As a nation, we have some soul-searching to do as we continue to allow unaccompanied minors fleeing violence and persecution to be abused. No U.S. official wants to think that children in our custody are being harmed, yet the statistics revealed by Deutch and Hayes make that fact painfully clear. This problem didn’t start with the Trump administration. But the more important question now is: Can Democrats and Republicans work together to try to solve it?

The prevention of child sexual abuse is a nonpartisan issue. It doesn’t matter where one falls on the issue of border security. We can all agree that no one, regardless of race, creed, religion, orientation or legal status, should suffer from sexual abuse. In our time of political dysfunction, it’s one issue where we can all find common ground. It requires leadership, not finger-pointing, from administration officials to create meaningful policies that will protect children from abuse. It requires action by lawmakers from both parties in Congress to strengthen HHS oversight, to ensure we’re doing everything we possibly can to keep child detainees safe from harm.

And it demands the American people put their differences aside for a moment, and pressure their elected officials to make the prevention of child sexual abuse by those who live, or strive to live, in the land of the free a national priority.

Lyndon Haviland, a distinguished scholar at the City University of New York School of Public Health & Health Policy, is the former CEO of Darkness to Light, a group committed to the prevention of child sexual abuse.