Three-Year-Old Sexually Abused in Federal Custody While Father Fought for Her Release

A 3-year-old girl was allegedly sexually abused multiple times while detained in federal immigration custody for more than five months -- despite her father being a lawful permanent resident who was ready and willing to care for her from day one.

The child, identified in court documents as "Lily," was separated from her mother at the southern border on September 16, 2025, and placed in an Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelter. Her father immediately submitted sponsorship paperwork to secure her release.

Instead of reuniting them within the 10-day window outlined in ORR policy for parental sponsors, federal officials kept adding new requirements, according to Lauren Fisher Flores, an attorney with the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project who represents the family.

"Her father immediately filled out the sponsorship paperwork and then was given a series of other requirements that continued to grow even though ORR policy indicates that for a parent, the release should be within 10 days," Flores told ABC News.

During those five months of bureaucratic delays, the toddler was allegedly sexually abused by an older child at the Hands of Healing foster home in Harlingen, Texas. Federal officials initially told the father only that an "accident" had occurred. He learned the full details of the abuse months later through his attorneys.

The father and daughter are now reunited, but the damage is done. "This has changed her life. It's changed her family's life," Flores said. "And it's really hard to see it happening."

The case is part of a broader pattern of prolonged detention under the current administration. The average length of care for migrant children has skyrocketed to 195 days as of February 2026 -- more than eight times the 24-day average in 2024, according to Department of Health and Human Services data.

"Detention fatigue takes a real toll on children, and we have seen an increase in behaviors like depression, anxiety, and self-harm amongst children who are detained for a long period of time," Flores said.

The family filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court in February challenging the prolonged detention. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees ORR, did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.

This case raises urgent questions about why a toddler was kept from her legal permanent resident father for five months while officials piled on paperwork requirements -- and why no one protected her from abuse while she waited. The administration's expansion of immigration detention has created a system where even children with available family members languish in custody, vulnerable to harm that could have been prevented by simply following the agency's own policies.