9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For over 40 years, I've been[br]a clinical social worker 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a developmental psychologist, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it seemed almost natural[br]for me to go into the helping professions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My parents had taught me[br]to do good for others. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so I devoted my career 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to working with families 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in some of the toughest circumstances: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 poverty, mental illness, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 immigration, refugees. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And for all those years,[br]I've worked with hope and with optimism. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the past five years, though, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my hope and my optimism[br]have been put to the test. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I've been so deeply disappointed[br]in the way the United States government 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is treating families 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who are coming to our Southern border 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 asking for asylum, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 desperate parents with children 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who only want to bring their kids[br]to safety and security. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They are fleeing some of[br]the worst violence in the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They've been attacked by gangs, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 assaulted, raped, extorted, threatened. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They have faced death, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they can't turn to their police[br]because the police are complicit, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 corrupt, ineffective. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then they get to our border, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we put them in detention centers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 prisons, as if they were common criminals. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Back in 2014, I met some of[br]the first children in detention centers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I wept. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I sat in my car afterwards and I cried. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was seeing some of the worst[br]suffering I'd ever known, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it went against everything[br]I believed in my country, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the rule of law, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and everything my parents taught me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The way the United States has handled[br]the immigrants seeking asylum 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 over the past five years, it's wrong, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just simply wrong. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Tonight I want to tell you[br]that children in immigration detention 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are being traumatized, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we are causing the trauma. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We in America, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 actually those of us here tonight, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 will not necessarily be on the same page[br]with respect to immigration. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We'll disagree on how we're going[br]to handle all those people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who want to come to our country. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Frankly, it doesn't matter to me[br]where you're a Republican or a Democrat, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 liberal or conservative. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I want secure borders. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I also want to keep the bad actors out. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I want national security. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And of course, you'll have your ideas[br]about those topics too. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I think we can agree 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that America should not be doing harm. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The government, the state, should not[br]be in the business of hurting children. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It should be protecting them, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 no matter whose children they are: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 your children, my grandchildren, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the children of families 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just looking for asylum. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, I could tell you story after story 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of children who have witnessed[br]some of the worst violence in the world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and are now sitting in detention, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but two little boys have stayed with me[br]over these past five years. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of them was Danny. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Danny is seven and a half years old[br]when I met him in a detention center 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in Karnes City, Texas back in 2014. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He was there with his mother and[br]his brother and they had fled Honduras. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know, Danny is one of these kids[br]that you get to love instantly. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He is funny, he's innocent, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he's charming and very expressive, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and he's drawing pictures for me, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and one of the pictures he drew for me[br]was of the ??. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The ??: this is the name 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that they gave to gangs[br]in the town that he was in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I said to Danny, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Danny, what makes them bad guys?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Danny looked at me with puzzlement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, the look was more like, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Are you clueless or just stupid?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He leaned in and he whispered, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Don't you see? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They smoke cigarettes." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "And they drink beer." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Danny had learned of course[br]about the evils of drinking and smoking. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then he said, "And they carry guns." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In one of the pictures, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the stick figures of the ?? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are shooting at birds and at people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Danny told me about the day his uncle[br]was killed by those ?? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and how he ran from his house[br]to his uncle's farmhouse 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 only to see his uncle's dead body, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 his face disfigured by bullets. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And Danny told me he saw his uncle's teeth[br]coming out the back of his head. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He was only six at the time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sometime after that, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 one of those ??[br]beat little Danny badly, severely, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that's when his parents said, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "We have got to leave[br]or they will kill us." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So they headed out, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but Danny's father was[br]a single-leg amputee with a crutch, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and he couldn't manage the rugged terrain. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So he said to his wife, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Go without me. Take our boys. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Save our boys." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So Mom and the boys set off. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Danny told me he looked back,[br]said goodbye to his father, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 looked back a couple of times[br]until he lost sight of his father, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and in detention he had not[br]heard from his father. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And it's very likely that his father[br]was killed by the ?? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because he had tried to flee. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I can't forget Danny. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The other boy was Fernando. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, Fernando was in[br]the same detention center, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 roughly the same age as Danny. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fernando was telling me about[br]the 24 hours he spent 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in isolation with his mother[br]in the detention center, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 placed there because his mother[br]had led a hunger strike 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 among the mothers in the detention center, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and now she was cracking[br]under the pressure of the guards 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who were threatening and being[br]very abusive towards her and Fernando. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As Fernando and I are talking[br]in the small office, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 his mother burst in, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and she says, "They hear you![br]They're listening to you." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And she dropped to her hands and knees, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and she began to look under the table,[br]groping under all the chairs. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She looked at the electric sockets, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the corner of the room, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the floor, the corner of the ceiling, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the lamp, at the air vent, looking[br]for hidden microphones and cameras. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I watched Fernando 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as he watched his mother spiral[br]into this paranoid state. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I looked in his eyes[br]and I saw utter terror. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 After all, who would take care[br]of him if she couldn't? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was just the two of them.[br]They only had each other. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I could tell you story after story, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I haven't forgotten Fernando. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I know something about[br]what that kind of trauma, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stress and adversity does to children. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I'm going to get clinical[br]with you for a moment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'm going to be[br]the professor that I am. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Under prolonged and intense stress, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 trauma, hardship, adversity,[br]harsh conditions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the developing brain is harmed, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 plain and simple. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Its wiring and its architecture 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are damaged. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The child's natural stress[br]response system is affected. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's weakened of its protective factors. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Regions of the brain 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that are associated with cognition, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 intellectual abilities, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 judgment, trust, self-regulation,[br]social interaction, are weakened, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sometimes permanently. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That impairs children's future. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We also know that under stress,[br]the child's immune system is suppressed, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 making them susceptible to infections. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Chronic illnesses like diabetes,[br]asthma, cardiovascular disease, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 will follow those children into adulthood[br]and likely shorten their lives. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mental health problems are linked[br]to the breakdown of the body. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have seen children in detention 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who have recurrent[br]and disturbing nightmares, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 night terrors, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 depression and anxiety, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 dissociative reactions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hopelessness, suicidal thinking, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and post-traumatic stress disorders. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And they regress in their behavior, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like the 11-year old boy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who began to wet his bed again[br]after years of continence, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the eight-year old girl[br]who is buckling under the pressure 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and was insisting[br]that her mother breastfeed her. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That is what detention does to children. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, you may ask, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what do we do? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What should our government do? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, I'm just a mental[br]health professional, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so all I really know is about[br]children's health and development. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I have some ideas. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First, we need to reframe our practices. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to replace fear and hostility 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with safety and compassion. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to tear down the prison walls, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the barbed wire, take away the cages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Instead of prison, or prisons, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we should create orderly[br]asylum processing centers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 campus-like communities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where children and families[br]can live together. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We could take old motels,[br]old army barracks, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 refit them so that children and parents[br]can live as family units 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in some safety and normality, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where kids can run around. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In these processing centers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 pediatricians, family doctors, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 dentists and nurses, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would be screening, examining, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 treating and immunizing children, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 creating records that will follow them[br]to their next medical provider. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Social workers would be conducting[br]mental health evaluations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and providing treatment[br]for those who need it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Those social workers[br]would be connecting families 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to services that they're going[br]to need, wherever they're headed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And teachers would be teaching[br]and testing children 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and documenting their learning 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so that the teachers at the next school 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can continue those children's education. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's a lot more that we could do[br]in these processing centers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a lot more. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And you probably are thinking, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this is pie-in-the-sky stuff. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Can't blame you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, let me tell you that refugee camps[br]all over the world are holding families 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like those in our detention centers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and some of those refugee camps[br]are getting it right 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 far better than we are. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The United Nations has issued reports[br]describing refugee camps 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that protect children's[br]health and development. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Children and parents live in family units 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and clusters of families[br]are housed together. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Parents are given work permits[br]so they can earn some money, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they're given food vouchers[br]so they can go to the local stores 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and shop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mothers are brought together[br]to cook healthy meals for the children, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and children go to school[br]every day and are taught. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Afterwards, after school,[br]they go home and they ride bikes, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hang out with friends,[br]do homework, and explore the world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all the essentials for child development. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We can get it right. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We have the resources to get it right. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What we need is the will[br]and the insistence of Americans 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we treat children humanely. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know, I can't forget[br]Danny or Fernando. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I wonder where they are today, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I pray that they[br]are healthy and happy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They are only two[br]of the many children I met, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and of the thousands we know about[br]who have been in detention. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I may be saddened 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by what's happened to the children, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I'm inspired by them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I may cry, as I did, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I admire those children's strength. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They keep alive my hope[br]and my optimism in the work I do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So while we may differ[br]on our approach to immigration, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we should be treating children[br]with dignity and respect. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We should be treating children[br]with dignity and respect. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We should do right by them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If we do, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we can prepare those children[br]who remain in the United States, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 prepare them to become productive,[br]engaged members of our society. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And those who will return to their[br]countries whether voluntarily or not 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 will be prepared to become the teachers,[br]the merchants, the leaders 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in their country. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I hope together[br]all of those children and parents 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 could give testimony to the world[br]about the goodness of our country 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and our values. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we have to get it right. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we can agree[br]to disagree on immigration, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I hope we can agree on one thing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that none of us wants to look back[br]at this moment in our history, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when we knew we were inflicting[br]lifelong trauma on children, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that we sat back and did nothing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That would be the greatest tragedy of all. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Applause)