We do not know exactly how many migrant children have been separated by the Trump administration. It is at least 5,500. The figure is being added to every month.

Nor do we know what impact it has had. For many the separations are only a year or so old. Some of those affected are still young.

In that inspector general’s report, there are moments where the trauma experienced can be glimpsed. It says that some children felt “angry and confused”. Others expressed “feelings of fear or guilt”.

One medical director quoted said children’s psychological pain would manifest as “physical symptoms”, such as complaints like “my chest hurts” or “I can’t feel my heart”.

Not knowing what happened is half the worry. All three parents who talked to this newspaper said their children were reluctant to describe what they experienced alone.

Back in New Orleans, Milagros and Elias are trying to rebuild their lives. She has a job at a hotel in the city centre and wants to learn English. He appears to be making friends at school.

But the damage is still there. Elias talks less than he used to. He can be a “little rebellious”. And, most worrying to his mother, he never opens up about what happened.

“When I ask him about those things he won't answer me,” she says, beginning to choke up again. “He just sits there staring at me, that's all.”

Sometimes Milagros considers getting a psychiatrist. But she cannot afford it. Elias is not yet nine. She hopes time will prove a healer.

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