Medical Records Paint Grim Picture Of Detained Immigrant Teen’s Mental Health Deterioration
The medical records of the teen were provided to the Desert Sun and show how he was treated while being kept in holding facilities. His family says his mental decline is the result of drugs he was given while in detention, without parental consent.
The Desert Sun:
Family Border Separations: Teen Immigrant's Mental Health Collapsed In Detention
Artemio spends a large portion of his days sleeping. When he's awake, the 18-year-old from Guatemala often stares blankly into the distance and repeats a set of mannerisms: He rubs his wrists as if they are sore and cradles his ribs as if he has a stomachache. He massages his collarbone and, one at a time, extends his knees and then relaxes them. He speaks only when he's asked a question, mumbling sentence fragments in response.
Fifteen months ago, Artemio's father, López, said his son was "100 percent well." The two traveled last summer from their home in the Guatemalan countryside to the California-Mexico border. When they crossed the border in Calexico, they asked immigration agents for asylum. Officials separated the father and son; Artemio spent the next 11 months in migrant youth detention facilities in San Diego and New York. (Plevin, 9/26)
In other news —
The California Health Report (healthycal.org):
Stress And Health Problems Plague Rural, Immigrant Communities Near The Border
Foreign-born immigrants in rural areas of the United States are facing grinding poverty, high levels of stress, discrimination and lack access to medical resources, putting their mental and physical health in jeopardy, according to a new study by the University of California, Riverside. Ann Cheney, an assistant professor with the university’s School of Medicine, led research in Southern California’s Eastern Coachella Valley, near the border with Mexico. Between 2015 and 2016, she and her team interviewed dozens of Mexican farmworkers, farmworker advocates, community leaders and health care providers about the challenges immigrants face and the effect these have on their health. (Boyd-Barrett, 9/26)