LETTER

The Trauma of Child Separation

A reader recalls her experience in post-World War II Germany.

Aug. 3, 2018

Image

Thiago, left, plays with a relative. Once partial to playing with impish yellow Minions, he now amuses himself by re-enacting Border Patrol agents patting down and shackling migrants.CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Separated Amid Tears, Now Filled With Fears” (news article, July 31):

I experienced firsthand the sudden separation from my parents as a 3-year-old in post-World War II Germany, when I was put in an orphanage for some weeks because my mother was hospitalized and my father was out of the country. I did not speak for more than a year after that.

I can only imagine the enduring terrors, distrust and perhaps lifelong dysfunction of these child victims of the administration’s cruelty, fueled by a seemingly willful disregard for America’s heritage and strength as a country of immigrants.

Karin Barnaby
Sea Cliff, N.Y.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Trauma of Child Separation. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe