Trigger warning: This blog mentions instances of sexual abuse.
CWS Marks April’s National Child Abuse Prevention Month:
Immigrant children come to the United States fleeing danger, not in search of it. They have done it alone, walking thousands of miles, and they have done it cradled in a parent’s arms. For many of those fortunate to make it to the United States to pursue asylum, however, their troubles are only beginning.
Immigrant children face separation from their family, immigration court without legal counsel or a translator, and long stays in inhumane institutional custody. Policies that are framed as necessary protections for the welfare of children are instead keeping children from loving families, and in some cases, as here, delivering them into care that is impermanent, unsafe, and traumatizing.
But in the vast array of horrors that a migrant child can encounter, we are too often reminded that when our system fails the depraved don’t hesitate.
It is tragically ironic that a new horrific case comes to light now, as we mark National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we are elevating that immigrant children in federal custody are being placed in preventable danger.
The new report reveals that a 3-year-old who entered the United States was separated from her mother and held in federal custody—and a series of foster homes—while her own father waited to be reunited with her. This little girl was wanted and loved, she missed her parents and they missed her. Her father couldn’t bring her to their new home because of updated fingerprinting requirements, a sad reminder that the system prioritizes immigration enforcement over child welfare.
Instead, she was handed to a system of strangers—where an older child allegedly sexually abused her—a toddler.
This little girl and her parents’ case is a result of systemic failures that we and other advocates have been warning about for far too long. This is a particularly gruesome incident, but as social workers tell us, it is far from an isolated accident.
Policies that prolong detention, weaken oversight, and separate families do not serve the best interests and welfare of children.
All of which begs the question: What should we be doing instead?
We need to create a groundswell of outrage for immediate reform.
We all—policy makers, department officials, children and immigration advocates, and the general public—need to act now. Outcomes like this are predictable under current policies, which have lengthened a child’s time in custody—and away from family—from 30 days in 2024 to 198 days now. No child should spend months in government custody; it is a breakdown of systems, and increases risks of abuse, neglect and trauma, especially for very young children.
We need detention to be a last resort, not the first response.
Family unity must be preserved, and reunification must be prioritized without delay. The methodology for separating a child from her family is skewed, punitive, and inconsistent. The procedures have created a backlog of cases, and there is a lack of transparency throughout. Not only does this not align with U.S. child welfare standards or international norms, but separating a child from their parent due only to immigration status is a callousness only surpassed by lack of basic human decency.
National Child Abuse Prevention Month must be a call to action—not a memorial—to help all children in danger find a safe home.
From Honduras, Somalia, Russia or the United States, an abused child is an abused child. We’ve repeatedly warned Congress and officials that child protections are being dismantled, and we’ve continuously called for action against these very problems to prevent terrible outcomes like this one. Child abuse prevention must include immigrant children. The United States cannot protect vulnerable children if the way they do so is by detaining them, separating them, or removing them from their most protective environments—stable homes with their loved ones.
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As the toddler in this case begins the long road to recovery, protecting children and preventing exploitation and harm must be our top priority. Join with us as we call on members of Congress to:
- Conduct oversight of immigration enforcement’s targeting of unaccompanied children and their families;
- Support funding for legal services like the Unaccompanied Children Program (UCP) and integration services like Home Studies and Post Release Services (HSPRS); and
- Ensure that guardrails are in place to prevent humanitarian programs from combining with enforcement.
For steps you can take to protect migrant children during National Child Abuse Prevention Month, sign up for CWS Action Alerts.