Michael Garcia Bochenek:

It is deeply traumatic. And that was really clear from talking to the children themselves and talking to their parents.

And I think what's really happening is the combination of factors. Children have gone through really traumatic experiences in their home countries. These are the things that caused them and their families to flee in the first place, targeted attacks, all kinds of violence that really was directed at them for who they are, for their beliefs, for refusal to join a gang, for a variety of other circumstances like this that really are not circumstances they could change or should have to change.

They have then gone through really difficult journeys through Mexico to reach the border, often suffering many, many acts of violence, many difficulties along the way.

And then they're told by U.S. authorities that they have to return to Mexico, wait in really precarious conditions in shelters that may or may not have space for them, and in situations where they're often afraid to leave the place where they're staying.

And when they do go to their court appointments, they're describing processes taking hours and hours, sometimes involving detention overnight in very cold cells. And it's the sum total of all this that's really, really devastating for children.

So, one mother told me that her son, her young son, visibly starts to shake as soon as he gets close to the bridge that crosses the border between Mexico and the U.S. And they have to do this once a month for their court hearings. They have been to four of them already, and there's no end in sight.

So, of course, the uncertainty as well is taking a toll on them.