You’ve seen the images: children separated from their parents after crossing into the United States. But many hope that will no longer be a reality after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday.
"It's a moment of good news,” said Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.
Lincoln-Goldfinch is an immigration attorney in Austin and has several clients working through the process to seek asylum.
While she said the president's executive order is good news, Lincoln-Goldfinch added that reuniting those who have already been separated will still be difficult.
"It's really tricky to reunite the families," said Lincoln-Goldfinch. "It's very difficult just to locate them and the next step is to try and coordinate them.”
Lincoln-Goldfinch said that coordination can be difficult with little or no communication.
"In some cases, we hear that the mother is trying to get deported as quickly as possible so that she's in the home country when the child gets deported, um you know so that the kid doesn't get home first,” said Lincoln-Goldfinch.
First, she said two agencies handle the process: ICE, which is part of the department of homeland security and the Office of Refugee resettlement, part of Health and Human Services.
"So there isn't one agency that's able to see all of the information, there's not one person who can make it happen,” said Lincoln-Goldfinch.
She said parents and children are constantly shuffled to different facilities, making it hard to find them.
And while there are public hotlines that aim to help, Lincoln-Goldfinch told KVUE they don't always provide the information.
"I'm hopeful that the administration recognizes it's responsibility in reuniting these families,” said Lincoln-Goldfinch. "It's going to take a concerted effort on the part of the administration to recognize that this is the right thing to do."
In the meantime, Kanaka Sathasivan with the Texas Nurses Association said that separation could have lasting effects like PTSD or anxiety, as well as increased cardio vascular disease, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
"Childhood trauma can really effect you for the rest of your life,” said Sathasivan.
Sathasivan said studies show detaining children at all has “detrimental” effects.
"Even if they are held for one day, two days, that could affect the rest of their health into adulthood,” said Sathasivan.
But Lincoln-Goldinch worries families could now be locked up much longer than that.
Asylum seekers can get out of the detention centers on bond while they wait for their immigration process. But, Lincoln-Goldfinch worries the government will start to deny that bail and instead keep parents and children locked up for months --- together.
A spokesman for Health and Human Services said Wednesday evening that they won't immediately reunite the children who have already been separated from their parents, but instead said their cases will proceed through the system.
According to the agency, children are turned over to them 72 hours after they're separated from their parents. Then, they're placed with a sponsor.
The bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Austin told KVUE Wednesday that he’s hopeful.
"I'm glad that at least the ending of separating children from parents is taking place which is very very important to us,” said Bishop Joe S. Vazquez.
Vazquez is also the Chair for Migration services for the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops.
"We do not believe it is justifiable to remove children from their parents,” said Vazquez.
He urges everyone to treat immigrants with respect.
"They're coming here seeking a better life, a new beginning, a new start,” said Vazquez. "They're coming to our country with hope, and that’s' why they want to come here."