Pediatric Health Care in Immigration Detention: A Call for Policy Change and Child Rights

Cristela Guerra is a senior arts and culture reporter at WBUR in Boston, a queer Panamanian journalist of color and a moderator who facilitates and leads conversations around race, identity and equity. Before working in public radio, she was a newspaper journalist working at The Boston Globe and The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida. They’ve covered hurricanes and blizzards; written about breaking news and immigration policy; worked local and state government beats; and consistently uplifted stories of the LGBTQ+ community. Her work received a regional and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2014 for reporting about a family caring for an ill son and another regional Murrow Award in 2023 for her work at the U.S.-Mexico border on the journey of Venezuelans migrants.

Jacqueline Bhabha is a Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also the Director of Research at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.

Javier Hidalgo specializes in asylum, civil rights, and complex litigation. In 2018, Javier joined the not-for-profit RAICES, the largest immigration legal services agency in Texas. As Legal Director, he oversees trauma-informed programs in support of individuals, family units, and unaccompanied children both in and recently released from government custody, as well as impact litigation in pursuit of positive systemic change in federal immigration policy. He came to RAICES following more than a decade of litigation experience as a paralegal and attorney in New York at midsize and multinational firms. A graduate of New York Law School (JD) and Swarthmore College (BA), Javier is admitted to practice law in the States of Texas and New York and the U.S. District Courts in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

Katherine Peeler is a pediatric critical care physician at Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA, where she is also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She is additionally a member of the faculties of HMS’s Center for Bioethics and Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. Dr. Peeler is co-medical director of the Harvard Student Human Rights Collaborative Asylum Clinic and engages students in research and advocacy efforts through the Peeler Immigration Lab. She has worked directly with child and adult asylum seekers and has researched, written about, testified, and spoken publicly about the health and rights of asylum seekers.