On Tuesday, legal service organizations providing representation and guidance to numerous migrant children facing deportation reported that they were abruptly instructed by the Trump administration to cease their government-funded operations.
Organizations affected across the U.S. mentioned that this directive would hinder their ability to provide crucial legal services, including “know your rights” sessions to migrant children who have crossed the U.S. southern border without parents or legal guardians.
According to U.S. law, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is tasked with the care of unaccompanied migrant minors who enter the country illegally, until they turn 18 or can be placed with a sponsor, typically a relative in the U.S. Historically, the government has funded nonprofit efforts to deliver legal counsel to these children—both while in custody and after being released—while immigration judges assess their eligibility to stay in the U.S.
The Acacia Center for Justice, an organization overseeing the major federal contract supplying legal services for migrant children, received a directive on Friday ordering them to immediately “stop all work” under that contract, as evidenced by a copy of the notice that CBS News obtained.
Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, stated that her organization has nearly 100 subcontractors offering legal assistance to approximately 26,000 migrant children nationwide who are or have been under the custody of HHS, which manages a network of child shelters.
Aber indicated that the stop-work order will immediately discontinue funding for “know your rights” presentations and legal screenings conducted by attorneys right after migrant children arrive in the U.S. to ascertain if they are eligible for benefits that would permit them to stay in the country legally. These benefits may include asylum for those fleeing persecution and visas for youth who are abused, neglected, or abandoned.
However, Aber noted that the suspension of the contract would compel nonprofits to use their own finances to ensure legal representation for migrant children in immigration court, highlighting that lawyers have ethical obligations to their clients and cannot simply abandon their cases. She expressed uncertainty about how long organizations could manage this without federal support, as migrant youth usually lack the financial capacity to hire attorneys.
“The due process rights of children will see a significant decline,” Aber stated in an interview.
The stop-work order directed to Aber’s group was handed down by the Department of Interior, which oversees the federal contract for her organization, despite the funding originating from HHS. Both departments did not reply to requests for comments.
Various immigration nonprofit organizations that were beneficiaries of the suspended federal contract expressed protest against the government’s decision, including the California-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center, the Texas-based Estrella del Paso, and the Illinois-based National Immigrant Justice Center.
“The Trump administration is forsaking children for political gain and leaving them to navigate our complicated immigration system alone,” remarked Lindsay Toczylowski, president of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
It remains unclear what triggered the stop-work order, but the Trump administration has been vigorously pursuing to significantly reduce federal expenditures that it deems excessive and inconsistent with its policy views, including those related to immigration. For example, the administration has also issued stop work orders to nonprofit organizations involved in resettling newcomers under the U.S. refugee program, which President Trump has frozen.
Additional policy changes affecting unaccompanied migrant children have been enacted by the Trump administration.
Last week, officials from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the HHS branch responsible for caring for unaccompanied children, significantly tightened the vetting process for individuals seeking to sponsor minors out of its custody. Now, all adults in households applying to sponsor migrant children are required to submit fingerprints for background checks, not just the prospective sponsors themselves.
The Trump administration has also been advancing collaboration between the refugee agency and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which alarms advocates who believe this may discourage some family members from sponsoring migrant children, especially if they are residing in the U.S. illegally. The administration appointed a former ICE official to lead the refugee office.
Officials from the Trump administration argue that drastic reforms are essential to shield migrant children from exploitation and trafficking. They have accused the Biden administration of inadequately tracking and protecting minors amidst a historic surge of unaccompanied children crossing the southern border.
Neha Desai, an attorney from the National Center for Youth Law, which represents migrant children in a federal court case, criticized the funding freeze for lawyers as undermining the Trump administration’s professed objectives, labeling it as “reckless.”
“Unaccompanied children without representation are substantially more likely to end in exploitative circumstances, including child labor and trafficking,” Desai added.
