Every day more than 1,000 immigrants on average are deported from the United States, and many of them are parents who were arrested and handcuffed in front of their children, before they were taken to a detention center to wait for their deportation. Over time, this means that hundreds of thousands of children are at risk of high level of trauma exposure.

Every month, between 6,000 and 7,000 people are deported who have families in the United States. Researchers who have examined the mental health problems connected to forced family separations find a daunting web of factors at play, including economic conditions, family relationships, trauma, and childhood upbringing. The consequences of separating parents from children can include causing or exacerbating mental health problems such as depressive or anxiety disorders.

A death in a detention center north of Los Angeles in 2012 is one of more than 130 other deaths since 2003 in the 250 detention centers for immigrants. The causes of death range from asphyxia to cardiopulmonary arrest and drowning. More than 400,000 people pass through the national network of detention centers every year, and the industry is on the rise.