Child immigrant suffered alleged sexual abuse in federal custody, family says

## Summary
Child immigrant suffered alleged sexual abuse in federal custody, family says An immigrant family is grappling with the ordeal suffered by a 3-year-old girl who endured alleged sexual abuse while her father fought for five months for her release from federal custody By VALERIE GONZALEZ Associated Press April 5, 2026, 12:03 AM McALLEN, Texas -- For five months, the young father waited for his 3-year-old daughter’s release from federal custody after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her mother, hoping through delays for their safe reunion. Only when he turned to the courts as a last resort did he learn that the girl had suffered alleged sexual abuse at the foster home where she’d been placed after immigration officials separated her from her mother . “She was so long in there,” said her father, who is a legal permanent resident in the United States. “I just think that if they would have moved faster, nothing like that would have happened.” He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to prevent identifying his daughter as a victim of sexual abuse. The Associated Press does not typically name people who have said they were sexually abused. “To have your child abused while in the government’s care, to not understand what has happened or how to protect them, to not even be told about the abuse, it is unimaginable,” Fisher Flores said. “Children deserve safety and they belong with their parents.” The ORR and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services , were named in the child's lawsuit but did not respond to emails seeking comment. It was while the attorneys prepared the lawsuit that the father realized that the “accident” officials had told him about was alleged sexual abuse. “Increasingly, we have to turn to the federal courts to challenge these harmful legal violations and demand that children be released,” Fisher Flores said.

## Article Content
Child immigrant suffered alleged sexual abuse in federal custody, family says
An immigrant family is grappling with the ordeal suffered by a 3-year-old girl who endured alleged sexual abuse while her father fought for five months for her release from federal custody
By
VALERIE GONZALEZ Associated Press
April 5, 2026, 12:03 AM
McALLEN, Texas --
For five months, the young father waited for his 3-year-old daughter’s release from federal custody after she crossed the
U.S.-Mexico border
with her mother, hoping through delays for their safe reunion.
Only when he turned to the courts as a last resort did he learn that the girl had suffered alleged sexual abuse at the foster home where she’d been placed after immigration officials
separated her from her mother
.
“She was so long in there,” said her father, who is a legal permanent resident in the United States. “I just think that if they would have moved faster, nothing like that would have happened.” He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to prevent identifying his daughter as a victim of sexual abuse.
President Donald Trump’s administration began targeting detained immigrant children, like the man’s daughter, last year when it implemented
new rules and procedures
, which were immediately followed by a dramatic jump in detention times. The federal government intensified efforts to expand family detention indefinitely by motioning to
terminate a cornerstone policy
ensuring the protection of immigrant children in federal custody.
For months after the girl was placed in foster care, her father’s attempts to be reunited stalled as the government told him it couldn't make an appointment to take his fingerprints.
During that time, according to court documents, the girl said she was sexually abused by an older child staying with her in foster care in Harlingen, Texas. A caregiver noticed the child’s underwear was on backward, according to the lawsuit. The girl then told the caregiver she was abused multiple times and it caused bleeding. Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement officials told the father that there had been an “accident” and his daughter would be examined, he told the AP in an interview.
“I asked them, ‘What happened? I want to know. I’m her father. I want to know what’s going on,’ and they just told me that they couldn’t give me more information, that it was under investigation," the father said.
The girl underwent a forensic exam and interview. Although the father wasn't told of the outcome, the older child accused of the abuse was removed from that foster program, according to the lawsuit.
The girl was forensically examined and interviewed, according to the lawsuit. The abuse allegations were reported to local law enforcement, said Lauren Fisher Flores, the lawyer representing the girl. The Associated Press does not typically name people who have said they were sexually abused.
“To have your child abused while in the government’s care, to not understand what has happened or how to protect them, to not even be told about the abuse, it is unimaginable,” Fisher Flores said. “Children deserve safety and they belong with their parents.”
The ORR and its parent agency, the
Department of Health and Human Services
, were named in the child's lawsuit but did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The girl and her mother illegally crossed the border near
El Paso
on Sept. 16 of last year. When her mother was charged with making false statements and they were separated, the toddler was sent to the custody of the ORR, which cares for immigrant children in shelter or foster settings.
Children in ORR's care are released to parents or sponsors who submit to a rigorous process that has grown more extensive under the Trump administration.
Stricter rules
were imposed on documentation required for sponsors, border agents started pressuring
unaccompanied children to self-deport
before transferring them to shelters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement started
arresting some sponsors
in the middle of the release process.
Legal advocates filed lawsuits challenging the policy changes, anticipating that they would result in prolonged detention.
Average custody times for children cared for by ORR grew from 37 days when Trump took office in January 2025 to almost 200 days this February. The total number of children in ORR custody fell by about half during the same time period.
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Attorneys are now turning to habeas petitions, which function as emergency lawsuits, to expedite the release of children to their parents and sponsors.
Fisher Flores, legal director of the American Bar Association’s ProBar project, said that this year the organization has worked on eight habeas corpus petitions representing children who have been held in

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- It was while the attorneys prepared the lawsuit that the father realized that the “accident” officials had told him about was alleged sexual abuse. “Increasingly, we have to turn to the federal courts to challenge these harmful legal violations and demand that children be released,” Fisher Flores said.

### Implications
- The federal government intensified efforts to expand family detention indefinitely by motioning to terminate a cornerstone policy ensuring the protection of immigrant children in federal custody.
- Legal advocates filed lawsuits challenging the policy changes, anticipating that they would result in prolonged detention.
- The fingerprinting policy was challenged during the first Trump administration by legal advocates including the National Center for Youth Law.
- Other nationwide lawsuits are opposing more recent changes affecting the custody and care of immigrant children . “This represents yet another version of family separation,” Neha Desai, managing director at Children’s Human Rights and Dignity at the National Center for Youth Law, said of the 3-year-old girl’s case. “A bipartisan Congress designed protections around the simple principle that children should be released to their family quickly and safely.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers children, father, girl topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1228.