Legal aid for immigrant kids remains in question after Trump administration pulls contract

More than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children remain at risk of losing legal representation a month after the Trump administration let a federal contract with the Acacia Center for Justice expire, advocates said. Acacia's network of roughly 100 nonprofits has kept representing existing clients without pay, but children entering federal custody since July 31 are largely going without lawyers in immigration court, where without representation fewer than 10% of children win the right to stay.

HHS has also withheld $65 million in congressionally appropriated legal funds since December, which Acacia leaders say is retaliation for refusing to hand over children's sensitive case data, including medical records. After a Texas firm with only two immigration attorneys won and then abandoned a $150 million contract, HHS awarded a $158 million no-bid contract to Our Rescue, an anti-trafficking group formerly known as Operation Underground Railroad, founded by a man later accused of sexual misconduct.

Our Rescue has no apparent history of providing legal representation to immigrant children and has not contacted Acacia or Arizona-based Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project to begin transferring cases, according to those organizations. HHS did not respond to requests for comment.

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