The father of a 3 year old immigrant girl reported that her daughter spent more than five months in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and which was allegedly victim of sexual abusedespite the fact that he, a legal permanent resident, was available to take care of her, according to his lawyer told ABC News.
The immigration authorities They separated the girl from her mother when both arrived at the country’s southern border on September 16, 2025.
The little one was placed in ORR custody and sent to a shelter.
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Lauren Fisher Flores, of the Pro Bono Representation Project for Claimants South Texas Asylumtold the television channel that during the time in which the father was trying to arrange the release of the infant, she was allegedly victim of multiple sexual abuse by an older minor in a foster home in Harlingen, Texas.
Flores had to submit a request for habeas corpus so that the father could assume custody of the little girl despite the fact that the ORR stipulates that, in the case of the parents, the release of the minor should be carried out within a period of 10 days, according to their statements to ABC News.
The lawyer He reported that the ORR informed the father that an “accident” had occurred, and that he only learned of the details of the abuse months later, through his lawyers.
Currently, the father and the minor are already together, Flores confirmed.
This would not be the first time that possible abuses have been reported in reception hostels.
In 2024, the US Department of Justice sued Southwest Key Programs Inc, the largest private provider of shelter and care for immigrant children who entered the country alone at that time, for allowing patterns of sexual abuse and harassment against minors in their headquarters located on the southwest border.
The US Attorney’s Office argues that from 2015 until at least 2023, several Southwest Key employees subjected children in their care to harassment, including sexual contact and inappropriate touching, sexual commentsrequest for sexual acts, and request for nude photographs.
In 2019, a former worker at a shelter for migrant minors operated by Southwest Key in Arizona He was sentenced to 19 years in prison for sexually abusing seven teenagers held there.
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