An immigration lawyer has reported that a three-year-old girl was held in federal custody for over five months and allegedly suffered sexual abuse, despite her father, who is a lawful permanent resident, being available to care for her.<\/p>\n
Lauren Fisher Flores, an attorney with the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, shared with ABC News that the child, referred to as “Lily,” was placed in a shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shortly after she and her mother were separated upon arriving at the southern border on September 16, 2025.<\/p>\n
According to a habeas corpus petition submitted in federal court in February, the child’s father quickly completed the necessary sponsorship forms but was not reunited with his daughter for more than five months.<\/p>\n
“Her father promptly filled out the sponsorship forms and was then presented with an escalating list of additional requirements, despite ORR guidelines stating that a release to a parent should occur within ten days,” Flores noted.<\/p>\n
During the period the father was working to secure his daughter’s release, the young girl was reportedly subjected to sexual abuse multiple times by an older child at the Hands of Healing foster home located in Harlingen, Texas, as stated by Flores.<\/p>\n
Flores informed ABC News that the father was initially told by ORR that an “accident” had taken place, but he only learned the full details of the abuse months later through his legal representatives. Currently, the father and daughter have been reunited, according to Flores.<\/p>\n
A representative from the Department of Health and Human Services, which supervises the Office of Refugee Resettlement, did not provide an immediate response to ABC News\u2019 request for comment.<\/p>\n
“This experience has profoundly impacted her life and her family’s life,” Flores remarked. “It is incredibly difficult to witness this unfold.”<\/p>\n
These serious allegations emerge as data from the Department of Health and Human Services indicates that the average duration of care for migrant children has risen to 195 days as of February 2026, in stark contrast to just 24 days in 2024.<\/p>\n
“Extended detention has significant psychological effects on children, leading to increased incidents of depression, anxiety, and self-harm among those who are kept in custody for long periods,” Flores added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An immigration lawyer has reported that a three-year-old girl was held in federal custody for over five months and allegedly suffered sexual abuse, despite her father, who is a lawful permanent resident, being available to care for her. Lauren Fisher Flores, an attorney with the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, shared with ABC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[86,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-us","category-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n