By Nisie

225 days is the average time an underage immigration detainee spends in custody.  Although the number of detainees under the age of 18 has decreased by almost half, the time spent in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has gone from 37 average days to over 200 days under the Trump administration. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) places children in foster care facilities before releasing them to a sponsor, but stricter rules have been placed on sponsors, making it even more difficult for any kind of family reunification, and making it take even longer for the child’s release. There have been some cases where border agents are pressuring unaccompanied children to self- deport before transferring them to a foster care center.  For a 3-year-old in Harlingen, Texas, the extended stay in ORR custody resulted in a devastating sexual assault.

                 In the foster care facility where the 3-year-old girl is being held by immigration, she was assaulted multiple times by an older child. According to the lawsuit filed by the father of the victim, this was discovered by one of the caregivers who first noticed the victim’s underwear was on backward. The 3-year-old was able to describe to the caregiver the horrific and violent abuse she was suffering; it was so bad that the sexual assault caused bleeding. Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement officials told the young girl’s father that there had been an "accident" and his daughter would be examined. The father spoke with the AP and said this during 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. He was never told the outcome of the investigation. Lauren Fisher Flores, the lawyer representing the 3-year-old victim in the lawsuit, said the child underwent a forensic exam. She further stated in an interview, "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, have not released any statements on this incident as of today. 

        In another interview, the father blamed ORR and the new Trump policies for what happened: "I just think that if they would have moved faster, nothing like that would have happened." But until the Trump administration makes some major improvements to how unaccompanied children are treated during the detention process, this could happen again. Children in ORR's care are released to parents or sponsors, but the requirement for sponsors has become stricter than before the current administration, resulting in extended detention for unaccompanied minors. Legal advocates filed lawsuits challenging the policy changes, but for now, immigration attorneys have found a way around the new rules by filing habeas petitions, which function as emergency lawsuits, to expedite the release of children to their parents and sponsors. But this only benefits detainees who can afford a good immigration attorney. Everyone else is at the whim of the ever-slowing immigration system. 

        After a horrifying 5 months in detention, the father of the innocent young victim says his little girl is home, but she is not the same. He says she now has nightmares and is still left frightened from her horrible experience. Thankfully, the father and daughter will live with family in Chicago while they continue with her immigration case. But surely, there is a long road ahead for just one of the families being impacted by the massive deportation efforts under Trump’s administration.