The AAP continues to speak out against the Federal Administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S. border. In early May, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formally announced its "zero tolerance" policy to separate parents and children at the border as a way to deter families from migrating to the United States.
The AAP was one of 540 national and state organizations, including numerous AAP chapters, who sent a letter to DHS calling for the agency to end the practice of family separation immediately. On that same day, 40 senators sent a letter to President Trump urging him to reverse his administration's decision to separate children from their parents at the border. The letter and press release cites AAP's statement against family separation. Today, AAP President Colleen Kraft, MD, MBA, FAAP, sent a message to all AAP members updating them on these efforts.
Pediatricians continue to lend their voices to these efforts. On Sunday, Reshem Agarwal, MD, FAAP, and Marsha Griffin, MD, FAAP, were published in the Houston Chronicle. Julie Linton, MD, FAAP, and Alan Shapiro, MD, FAAP, were published in the Winston-Salem Journal also opposing the practice.