For the first time, a migrant family that was separated at the Texas border is suing the federal government and asking for damages, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
"We're asking for the government to put forth money to construct a mental health fund for the children so they can be provided all the mental health services they need," Oren Nimni with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice says.
The group represents two families from Guatemala that were separated after they illegally crossed into Texas. The suit names one dozen White House staffers, including US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
The lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts, where the migrant families now live.
In it, they allege that - after separation - federal agents insulted the crying kids in Spanish.
"Shut up, you trash!" they said, the lawsuit reads.
Nimni says his clients are still traumatized by the separation.
"The kids wake up with nightmares about what happened to them," he explains. "The parents are unable to leave a room without the kids being terrified that they'll never see them again."
The lawsuit claims the Trump Administration's "Zero tolerance" policy on the border was discriminatory against Central and South American families.
"In January of this year, President Trump referred to El Salvador, Haiti, and African countries generally as "shithole countries" and said that the United States should be allowing immigration from countries like Norway instead," it reads.
Lawyers for the immigrants are working it make this a class action lawsuit so that all children separated under the policy, as well as children who could be separated in the future, would be represented.
PHOTO' GETTY