Families struggling with trauma of separation

A 6-year-old immigrant boy sobs at the school bus stop in suburban Maryland and begs his mother to promise she will not disappear again.

A toddler in Honduras wakes up screaming and searches for the government social worker who cared for him for several months. Other children duck or hide their faces when they see a uniformed officer.

Families who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration and then reunited with their children say they are suffering deep emotional wounds and want the U.S. government to pay for mental health treatment to remedy the situation.

A federal class-action lawsuit filed this week seeks unspecified financial compensation and the creation of a fund to pay for mental health treatment for more than 2,000 children who were taken from their parents after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border this spring as part of the government's “zero-tolerance” policy.

The Trump administration declined to comment.

The families say the joyous reunions that occurred after the government reversed its policy have given way to agonizing daily routines as they have settled back into life in the U.S. and Central America. They say both the children and parents are traumatized by the ordeal.

Once easy-going children are now jumpy, disobedient, short-tempered and afraid of school, their parents say. They have nightmares on a regular basis. Little things trigger tears, even in older kids.