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Bethany Christian Services: Separated children have been through "hell on earth"

A Grand Rapids-based foster care agency that houses immigrant children separated from their parents at the United States and Mexico border says many of the children are “traumatized beyond belief.”

Bethany Christian Services is one of two foster care agencies in Michigan that receives seperated children from the US Department of Refugee Resettlement. According to the organization, roughly 50 children in its Refugee Foster Care program were forcibly removed from their parents near the southern border. 

“So when they get here, to say they are traumatized is an understatement," Bethany Christian Services President Chris Paulsky said. "They have been through hell on earth. I can’t express it.”

The forced separation of children from their parents at the Mexico and US Border has ignited intense debate over the White House’s current immigration policies. President Donald Trump meanwhile softened his position Wednesday, signing an executive order that allows children to remain with their parents.

So what does that mean for children who have already been separated from their families?

“There is a possibility that they would be reunited with their families, but there is a nuance there," Paulsky said. "The nuance is that they would be in a detention center.”

While the vast majority of Democrats were opposed to separating families at the border, a number of Michigan Republicans have voiced their disapproval including Congressmen Fred Upton and Bill Huizenga.

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