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The Trump administration’s new “zero-tolerance” policy on illegal immigration has led to families being separated at the US-Mexico border. Adults, including those seeking asylum, are criminally prosecuted for crossing the border illegally, and as a result their children are taken away from them to government-run shelters. Images and audio recordings have painted a grim picture of what it’s like inside the detention centres.

2342 children have been separated from their parents at the border between May 5 and June 9, according to government officials.

We don’t know how long they will be kept there, but what we do know is that the experience is likely to have long term physical and mental effects.

The biggest will likely come from stress. “These families have left a country with high levels of violence and strife. That’s already traumatic, and this is adding insult to injury,” says Charles Nelson at Boston Children’s Hospital. “The child probably already has a hyperactive stress response, they’re on high alert, and now they’re in a situation with crowding, depersonalisation, uncertainty and feelings of hopelessness.”

Lasting effects

Over time, the stress response can reshape how well neural pathways and the immune system operate. “There is wear and tear on the body if these stressors continue. Stress hormone receptors in the brain start getting oversaturated, and that can become toxic to the hippocampus, which is important for learning and memory,” Nelson says.

Ironically, the presence of a caregiver can help to protect against the effects of stress. “They’re taking away the number one potential buffer to help the child make it through that experience: their caregivers,” says Sheila Walker at the Center for Youth Wellness in California.

For infants still developing vision or language, there can be lasting effects from being without stimulation, such as seeing different light patterns or being spoken to directly. “The longer kids go without it, the harder it is to get back,” says Nelson. For a child under 2 years old even a week of neglect can lead to ill-formed visual processing or language deficits, he adds.

The environment within the shelters can be damaging to older children too. There are reports  that in some facilities, overhead fluorescent lights are on day and night. “That will throw off sleep cycles. When kids are experiencing trauma like this, that’s already going to be disrupted, and having lights on all the time is only going to make it worse,” Nelson says. Sleep deprivation can have a devastating effect on the brain, particularly during development, he adds.

The shock of being separated from a parent can also lead a child to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. “With PTSD, a child may be triggered in the future when a caregiver leaves them with a babysitter. It’s like the biological gas pedal to the stress response is stuck in the floor position,” Walker says.

And we know that people with more adverse childhood experiences have higher risks of cancer and heart disease. One study  showed that people who experience 6 or more traumatic events during childhood .

After visiting a shelter in Texas housing immigrant children separated from their parents, Colleen Kraft, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, that this treatment is “nothing less than government-sanctioned child abuse.”

Even so, this doesn’t mean this is a lost cause. “We’re under construction 24/7 as human beings,” Walker says. “If trauma takes place in a child’s life, a caregiver and access to a healthy lifestyle can help them recover.” Trauma can affect a child’s health over the long term, but it doesn’t have to.