President Donald Trump’s deputies have ended agency payments to immigration advocacy groups who want to help young migrants gain legal status.
The Trump administration is replacing nonprofit immigration legal providers with a private law firm, awarding a cooperative agreement worth up to $150 million to a Texas-based firm to represent younger migrants who used a small 2008 migration gateway intended for abandoned teenagers or children, dubbed “Unaccompanied Alien Children,” in immigration proceedings.
According to a Federal Register notice set to be published Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement intends to award the agreement to Houston-based Burke Law Group. The contract would run from Aug. 15, 2026, through Aug. 14, 2027.
Under the agreement, Burke Law Group will provide legal orientation, legal consultations, and attorney representation for eligible unaccompanied migrant children appearing before the Executive Office for Immigration Review and in proceedings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services while they remain in ORR custody.
The firm will also provide limited legal transition planning and referrals for children leaving ORR care. ORR said the agreement is intended to expand its ability to provide legal services while supplementing existing ORR-funded programs and addressing gaps in legal representation for eligible children.
The agency said the award is designed to help fulfill its obligation under federal law. The document stated:
The proposed award is intended to help address identified gaps in legal orientation, legal consultation, and attorney-of-record representation services for eligible UACs while supporting ORR’s statutory responsibility to ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that eligible UACs have counsel to represent them during immigration proceedings.
Responsibility for the care of unaccompanied migrant children was transferred to ORR under the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 also directs HHS, to the extent practicable, to ensure such children have legal representation and are protected from abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking.
The notice identifies the award as a single-source cooperative agreement with Burke Law Group, which is headquartered in Houston, Texas. It does not specify how many children are expected to receive services under the agreement or why the firm was selected.
The move drew praise from many X users, who said the administration was right to replace nonprofit legal groups and argued taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund legal representation for migrants in the country illegally.
Read the full article here