New: Three years after her 8 year old daughter died in CBP custody, her mom takes medication to help her fall asleep after feeling her daughter’s body go limp in her arms. Today the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

apnews.com/article/immi...

Attorneys at ProBar, which represented the 3-year-old child, have prepared 8 cases this year, something they hadn’t done before.

The kids represented in those cases have been held in federal custody an average of 225 days.

Average custody times for children in ORR grew from 37 days when Trump took office in Jan. 2025 to almost 200 days in February.

Now attorneys are turning to emergency civil lawsuits, or habeas corpus petitions, to prompt releases.

The father, a legal permanent resident, filed his sponsorship application.

What could’ve taken days, took months.

Advocates point to a shift in policies under Trump that has increased the time children spend in custody drastically.

3-year-old immigrant suffered alleged sexual abuse during months 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.

NEW: An immigrant dad waited 5 mts for a fingerprinting appt required to reunite with his daughter.

In that time, the toddler was sexually abused in government care.

“I just think that if they would have moved faster, nothing like that would have happened,” the dad said.
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Cambodian man deported by the US to Eswatini is being repatriated, his lawyer says A lawyer for a Cambodian man deported by the United States to the African kingdom of Eswatini says he has been released from a prison to be repatriated.

NEW: A Senate report estimates it costs the U.S. $413,000 to send a deportee to Eswatini, a small African country participating in third-country deportations.

A detainee released today said they were flown in a private jet to a prison with few resources.
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The Gámez-Cuéllar family has been reunited.

McAllen ISD students and their parents are waiting to welcome the Gamez Cuéllar brothers with open arms back home.

Rep. Monica de la Cruz, GOP Dist. 15, who escorted Antonio out, said:

“I challenge my colleagues to work together for new enforcement policies that not only secure our border but make safer communities and that ultimately are common sense. These two things do not have to be in contradiction.”

The 18 year old Mariachi band member, Antonio Gamez-Cuéllar was released this afternoon after his family was detained by ICE last week. He was held separately from his family at a detention center in Raymondville, Texas.

He’s seen here in the maroon shirt.

Story: apnews.com/article/immi...

The Gámez-Cuéllar family has been released from Dilley! We just picked them up.

It’s now past 7 pm and the long lines seen all day at McAllen’s Lark Community Center are closed but anyone in line will get to vote.

Voters have averaged an hour to an hour and a half waiting to cast their ballots.

Story in collaboration with @garanceburke.bsky.social and Adam Geller.

Worms in food, poor medical care, lights on 24/7: Families tell of life in Texas detention center When ICE officers in Minneapolis detained a 5-year-old boy and his father last month and sent them to a Texas detention center, many Americans were alarmed.

NEW: An uncomfortable but essential read.

We heard about the trauma endured by children in detention at Dilley, including the mother whose child used a plastic knife to hurt herself and the haunting images she created to vent her fears.

“We are all Liam,” one mom said.
apnews.com/article/chil...

Lawmakers say US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone Members of Congress say the U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Patrol drone.

The U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone, members of Congress said Thursday, and the Federal Aviation Administration responded by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas.

apnews.com/article/mili...

Legal advocates seek to halt CBP policy pressuring unaccompanied children to self-deport Legal advocates are asking a judge to stop U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from urging unaccompanied immigrant children to voluntarily deport themselves.

NEW: Legal advocates filed a motion today seeking to stop CBP agents from urging immigrant youth entering the country without their parents to voluntarily deport themselves under a federal policy introduced September.

Attorneys say it circumvents TVPRA.
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They’re Remembered: Messages for Children at Dilley | Children's Rights This Valentine's Day, show the children at Dilley that they're on our minds—and we're not looking away. Your words, your children's drawings, your messages of hope—they will be delivered directly into...

New campaign from @childrens-rights.bsky.social will let people send encouraging messages to immigrant families at the Dilley detention center:

www.childrensrights.org/l/theyre-rem...

Thank you to everyone who demanded freedom for Liam. We won’t stop until all children and families are home.

Just visited with Liam and his father at Dilley detention center. I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him.

Immigrant families protest at Texas facility housing 5-year-old boy, father detained in Minnesota Dozens of immigrant families protested behind the fences of a Texas detention facility where a 5-year-old boy Ecuadorian boy and his father were sent this week after being detained in Minnesota.

NEW: Dozens of detained immigrant families braved the cold outside the Dilley, TX facility to protest conditions and long detentions, sparked by the recent arrest of 5 y.o. Liam Conejo Ramos.

A detainee said the boy & his dad briefly participated.
apnews.com/article/texa...

Media gets ten spaces at today’s trial for former Uvalde schools officer Adrian Gonzales. Spots were allotted after all journalists decided Uvalde’s newspaper should have a permanent seat.

Support local journalism.

(I’ll also be inside. No cells or computers allowed.)

About 400 immigrant children were detained longer than the recommended limit, ICE admits Legal advocates concerned over the prolonged detention of immigrant children in federal custody are sounding the alarm before the federal court. U.S.

NEW:

A Dec. 1 report from ICE indicated that about 400 immigrant children were held in custody for more than the 20-day limit during the reporting period from August to September. Legal advocates say the government is failing to safeguard children.

apnews.com/article/immi...

Government ordered to resume deportation protection program for vulnerable immigrant youth A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to resume a program that could grant deportation protection to vulnerable immigrant children and youth. U.S.

NEW: A federal judge issued an order Wednesday requiring the Trump administration to again consider granting protection from deportation to certain vulnerable young immigrants under the Special Immigrant Juvenile status program, also known as SIJS.

apnews.com/article/immi...

Trump administration offers migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to home countries The Trump administration is offering migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home countries, dangling a new incentive in efforts to persuade people to self-deport.

JUST IN: ICE didn’t say how much migrants would get or when the offer would take effect, but The AP obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age and older would get $2,500 each. Children were given 24 hours to respond.

apnews.com/article/ice-...

Update: DHS shared a response to today’s decision from Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee.

For context, the government initially claimed Guatemalan parents asked for their kids back to be reunited, but they retracted that last week following contradictory evidence.

Legal advocates with Kids in Need of Defense visited Honduras last week and found government officials and nongovernmental organizations working “furiously” to receive as many as 400 children back from the United States.

Judge blocks Trump administration from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children A judge is blocking the Trump administration from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children who came to the U.S. alone back to their home country.

New: Judge grants preliminary injunction to block Trump admin from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children who came to the U.S. alone back to their home country.

BUT, he did not expand class to cover Honduran children who attorneys believe are targeted next.

apnews.com/article/trum...

Bottled water sold for $1.21, dismissed medical pleas and faith tested at family detention facility New revelations into a Texas detention facility are stirring concern among attorneys for the wellbeing of immigrant children.

New: Bottled water sold for $1.21, dismissed medical pleas and faith tested at family detention facility in Dilley, TX

apnews.com/article/immi...

Legal aid group sues to preemptively block US from deporting a dozen Honduran children A legal aid group has sued to preemptively block any efforts by the U.S. government to deport a dozen Honduran children, saying it had “credible” information that such plans were quietly in the works.

A week after the U.S. attempted to remove about 80 Guatemalan children in the middle of the night, advocates began hearing they were preparing to do the same this weekend with Honduran children and preemptively sued to block it.

Story ✍️ Leah Willingham

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