WASHINGTON, DC - The rhetoric from President Donald Trump, stemming from his 2016 campaign, and his administration’s subsequent immigration policies, has caused anxiety among immigrant communities.

That’s according to health professionals called by Democrats to testify this week before the House Education and Labor Committee.

"In July 2019, after threats of national ICE raids, an 8-year-old panicked when she learned that her mother was going to go buy groceries and begged, don’t go outside mommy I don’t need to eat," said Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine. 

"In the long term, children who have been separated may be susceptible to chronic conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, diabetes, and even heart disease," said Olanrewaju Falusi, Pediatrician and Executive Committee Member at the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Republicans argue the true harm is not the Trump administration’s family separation policy or expanded deportation policies but loopholes in immigration law that lend to children being used by smugglers to gain entry into the United States. Former Immigration Judge Mark Metcalf, who now serves as a county attorney in Lancaster, Kentucky was called to testify by House Republicans.

"No one wants to separate a child from a parent. That’s the last thing anyone wants and one is too many but one child trafficked is also too many and so where we are left is trying to enforce the law with the most sensitive gauges we’ve got and that’s asking questions, doing the DNA testing," said Metcalf.

Republican Congressman Brett Guthrie says he’s concerned about the Central American immigrant community in Bowling Green. He says they aren’t undocumented but are under Temporary Protected Status. The administration’s position about the future of TPS has been inconsistent. Wednesday Guthrie called on his Democratic colleagues to compromise with Trump.

"They don’t know El Salvador. They were born and raised in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They are as Bowling Green, Kentuckian as I am. We just need to be mindful of that when there may be an opportunity to do something coming up very soon on this," he said.

There are roughly 2.9 million children living in the United States who were born outside of the country.

A total of 19.6 million children in America are growing up in immigrant families.