Children Belong With Their Families, and ProBAR is Fighting to Bring Them Home 

As Spring blooms, our team celebrates the resilience and strength we see in our clients. As we continue to fight to reunify children with their families, we bear witness to the costs of prolonged detention, the joy of families reunited, and the resilience of children. No one better embodies resilience than the children ProBAR serves. And with your support, we will be able to continue our zealous advocacy.

In 2025, the average time a child spent detained by ORR skyrocketed from 37 days to over 200—nearly 8 months’ time—and this has taken an undeniable toll. We know of one young client who accrued reports of misbehavior for hugging staff at the shelter where she was detained. Another child said she was tired of being with strangers and not around the people who love her, and that she was slowly losing hope she would ever be released. “As countless months went by, I lost it. I lost myself,” she said. “I lost who I was and who I wanted to be. I couldn’t handle being there for another day.”

This separation takes a toll on parents as well. Every time families think they are close to reunification, the finish line moves just out of reach; rules change from one day to the next, weeks turn to months, and many families lose hope. One child’s father told us while his son was detained he “woke up in the middle of the night all the time, thinking about what I could do to have my child with me again, because I knew that he was not well in that place.”

Meanwhile, mounting challenges continue for children who are detained. Last fall, they were taken from their beds and packed onto a plane overnight. When that failed, they were convinced and coerced into giving up their rights. Over the winter holidays—three months—not a single child in detention was reunified. Now, children are being offered money to leave, rushed through court proceedings in what we call “rocket dockets”, and forced to make decisions alone in court, all in the name of safety.

Nonetheless, ProBAR has been there each step of the way to advocate, bear witness, and amplify the voices of children for the federal courts to hear. With so many avenues to relief blocked, our team has also turned to federal litigation to fight prolonged detention of children.  

We believe children belong with their families, and we fight every day to bring them home. One three-year-old client was separated from her mother at the border and detained for 5 months. Within 2 days of ProBAR filing a habeas petition, she was on a plane to her father.

ProBAR has now won the release of seven child clients. One mother noticed that the look her child’s eyes had when she was detained was slowly fading, saying “her happy eyes are finally coming back.” Seven children, back in the arms of their families, schools, teachers, and communities. Thanks to your support, we can continue to fight for the rights of detained children. ProBAR presente.