In this June 20, 2018, file photo, immigrant children walk in a line outside the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Florida. (Photo: Brynn Anderson/AP)

Two migrant fathers who were separated from their children under the Trump administration's family separation policy have taken the first step toward suing the administration.

The two men this week filed administrative claims alleging that the government separated thousands of children from their parents, although it knew the harm it was inflicting.

"It took children from their parents not in spite of the harm, but because of it, intending that the terror inflicted on these families would deter other families from migrating to the United States," said the claims, which gave notice of the fathers' federal tort claims with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies.

In addition to these two fathers, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit law firm, has partnered with Covington & Burling to file five other administrative claims for migrant parents and children who were separated at the border, according to the center's website.

"Thousands of children and parents will live with intense trauma the rest of their lives as a result of this policy, which the administration knew would leave indelible scars," said a statement by Michelle Lapointe, senior supervising attorney at the center.

Jay Carey, a partner in Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., said that the fathers and children experienced permanent harm, and those responsible should be held accountable.

"A message must be sent to this Administration—which has acted in the name of the American people—that such cruelty will not be tolerated here or in any civilized society," he said in a statement.

The first father, whom the claim calls "J.D.G.," immigrated from Guatemala with his 11-year-old daughter, because his niece had been raped in their neighborhood, and he feared the perpetrator would rape his daughter, too. They entered the U.S. in Arizona, where they were detained. As the girl cried, they were separated from each other in May 2018. The father became ill with despair. He considered taking his own life, said the claim.

Although they were reunited in July 2018, the separation changed the girl, who wouldn't eat, insisted on remaining at her father's side at all times, acted sad and distracted and sometimes became combative and rebellious, according to the claim. The father struggles with feelings of guilt, as he replays the details of the separation, can't sleep well, and more.

The second father, "E.S.M.," also from Guatemala, was separated in May 2018 from his 11-year-old son in Arizona.

"It was a terrible scene, with both children and adults crying, and children begging their parents not to let the officials take them away," his claim said, noting the father was distraught and couldn't eat or sleep because officers knew nothing about his son.

In July 2018, the father and son were reunited in a Texas detention center. The son "told his father that he thought he was never [going] to come for him."

The boy is now afraid to be alone and worried when his father leaves the house, and seems distant, quiet and withdrawn, where he was a talkative kid before. The father struggles with fear that his son will be taken from him again, the claim said.

Both claims alleged that separating families violates the Constitution, the law and basic human decency.