A rally will be held in Bowling Green Saturday in support of the national 'Families Belong Together' event.
Thousands are expected in Washington, D.C. and in cities across the county to protest the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy on immigration that separated more than 2,000 children from their parents.
Now the administration is scrambling to adhere to a court order to re-connect those children with their families.
Teresa Christmas is owner of the ‘Art Matters’ studio in Bowling Green and works with many children of immigrant families in her art classes. She's taught English as a Second Language at the International Center of Kentucky in Bowling Green.
Christmas said she’ll be at the local rally on Saturday because of her training in human development and her work helping to implement Warren County Family Court. She said she’s worried about the cognitive and social development of the children who have been separated from parents at the border.
“Attachments may never be formed for that human being ever again in their life. They may not be able to be good parents themselves someday. They may have difficulty loving, if this goes on and it’s not mended,” said Christmas.
She said while some in the Trump administration point out that children at the border are being cared for in safe and humane shelters, that won’t make up for the trauma they’ve already experienced.
“Do they have toys? Do they have books? The rest of that stuff really doesn’t matter very much if they’ve been separated suddenly from the person that is their primary caregiver and they can’t reach that person. You know, it’s just really going to cause them psychological damage for the rest of their lives.”
The Bowling Green 'Families Belong Together' rally is Saturday at 10 a.m. in front of Senator Rand Paul’s office on State Street.
