Thousands of unaccompanied migrant children could lose legal representation this week
Thousands of unaccompanied migrant children could lose legal representation as soon as Friday as the federal government contract for the nonprofit groups representing minors expires, advocates and immigration lawyers told ABC News.
The deadline comes as legal providers say the administration has withheld $65 million in overdue fees, alleging it is an attempt to force them to turn over confidential information about the migrant children they represent.
In December 2023, the Acacia Center for Justice became the prime contract holder with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the Unaccompanied Children Program, overseeing subcontracts with more than 100 service providers that give legal representation to over 20,000 unaccompanied migrant minors.
During the Trump administration, Acacia and many of its subcontracted groups have alleged that unaccompanied minors and their sponsors are among those being targeted under the government's immigration crackdown.
In June, DHS agents visited the offices of several Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit groups 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 U.S.
A group of legal service providers filed an emergency motion last week in federal court to require the government "to comply with its obligations and resume unlawfully withheld payment for legal services required for unaccompanied children."
"Plaintiff organizations are already beginning furloughs and a fragile network of legal services organizations dedicated to serving unaccompanied children is on the brink of collapse -- preventing Plaintiffs from taking on new representations, impeding them from retaining highly experienced staff and institutional memory, and even causing many children to lose their lawyers," the groups said in their motion.
A federal judge scheduled a hearing for Aug. 6.
A spokesperson with HHS 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.
In court filings, the legal services providers said that ORR is demanding "client-level data that is confidential and legally privileged."
Jennifer Podkul, the Chief of Global Policy and Advocacy for the group Kids in Need of Defense, one of the legal providers, said the organization is owed more than $25 million by the government.
Podkul told ABC News that the group has burned through its reserves and is now preparing staff cuts, forcing them to decide which cases they can keep.
"This contract ends on July 31 ... what if your client has an emergency on Saturday?" Podkul said. "What if they have an asylum hearing Monday morning? What do we do? Are we allowed to get into the facility and meet with our clients?"
According to court documents, Estrella del Paso, a legal service provider in Texas, said the organization faces closure after 40 years, having not been reimbursed for up to $765,000 in federal payments for services already provided.
The group said it has been unable to hire attorneys and was forced to stop offering representation to new unaccompanied minor clients.
"We have spent 20 years building this institutional knowledge that we are going to lose on Friday," the group said in a statement. "There is no replacing the organizations providing these services. We know what happens to children that go to court without an attorney. In one word, it is deportation. The government is trying to eliminate our work and this program because they know that without attorneys, children will be deported."
