Small Texas law firm set to receive $150M contract to represent unaccompanied migrant children
The Trump administration is set to award a multimillion-dollar contract to a small Texas law firm to provide legal representation for thousands of unaccompanied migrant children in government custody during immigration proceedings.
In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its intent to award the $150 million contract to Burke Law Group, a law firm headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The notice states the contract would "provide legal orientation, legal consultation, and attorney-of-record representation services for eligible unaccompanied alien children" during immigration proceedings and hearings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services while the children remain in government custody.
The proposed award comes after legal service providers across the country have said that the administration has withheld $65 million in overdue fees from the previous contract, alleging it is an attempt to force them to turn over confidential information about the migrant children they represent.
Burke Law Group has 26 employees across eight offices, according to its website. None of the firm's attorneys list immigration law as a practice area. Instead, their practices include administrative law, white-collar defense, commercial litigation, securities litigation and other areas.
One of the founders, Marcella Burkey, was a former Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Jeffrey Hall, a former employee and founding partner, was appointed and confirmed to serve in the EPA late last year.
Burke Law Group did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
In December 2023, the Acacia Center for Justice, an immigrant advocacy group, became the prime contract holder with HHS for the Unaccompanied Children Program, overseeing subcontracts with more than 100 service providers that provide legal representation to more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children.
A spokesperson with HHS previously told ABC News that its sub-agency, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), "offered Acacia the opportunity" to receive a new federal contract "based on requirements that include they provide the data on who they represent and that they bill [HHS] when they submit applications for immigration relief." The HHS spokesperson said Acacia refused.
Legal services providers including Acacia have said that ORR was demanding "client-level data that is confidential and legally privileged."
During the Trump administration, Acacia and many of its subcontracted groups have alleged that unaccompanied children and their sponsors are among those being targeted under the administration's immigration crackdown.
In June, DHS agents visited the offices of several Washington-area nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children. Last year, ABC News reported that the administration was directing immigration agents to track down unaccompanied migrant children in the United States.
