Civil rights attorneys with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Atlanta and Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C., filed complaints against the federal government Thursday on behalf of fathers separated from their children at the southern U.S. border with Mexico.

The fathers are seeking compensation for the trauma to their children, a boy and a girl, both 11. They were fleeing Guatemala after threats on their lives and the rape of another girl in one of the families, according to the suit, which claims the families have suffered and will continue to suffer damage to their mental, physical and emotional health for years to come.