Key Takeaways
The federal contract that pays for legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children expired July 31, and an estimated 26,000 children could be without lawyers as soon as Monday, August 3.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement stopped paying providers in November after they refused to hand over confidential information about child clients, which the lawyers say is protected by attorney-client privilege.
Without a lawyer, unaccompanied children win the right to stay in the US less than 1 percent of the time.
For two decades, federal law has required the US to protect children who cross the border alone, out of concern they could be exploited or trafficked. On Friday, the money behind that protection ran out. The $200 million contract between the Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Acacia Center for Justice, which funds a network of nearly 100 legal groups representing unaccompanied children, expired without renewal, NPR reported. An estimated 26,000 children could be without lawyers as soon as Monday.
The lapse was months in the making. ORR stopped paying providers in November after demanding confidential information about the children they represent, data the lawyers say is privileged. Acacia says the government is withholding payment for work already performed. Legal nonprofits sued last year over roughly $65 million they say they are owed, and the squeeze is forcing cuts. ProBAR, an American Bar Association project on the Texas border, laid off more than 20 percent of its staff this week.
Without a lawyer, unaccompanied children win the right to stay in the United States less than 1 percent of the time, according to the attorneys who represent them. Nearly 1,800 children sat in ORR custody in June, waiting an average of 194 days to be released to sponsors, per agency data.
ORR told Acacia on July 29 that it is considering a new contract, possibly with different providers, but has not said who. Some attorneys plan to show up Monday anyway, unpaid. "We have an ethical responsibility. We can't just drop a case," said Mickey Donovan, legal services director at Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
The system built to protect the most vulnerable keeps showing its seams. WYDE covered the same fault line when Oklahoma charged nine people over a children's crisis nursery and when a GAO report found up to $521 billion in yearly federal fraud with no risk plan for SNAP. Programs that serve children are only as strong as the money and oversight behind them. This week both gave out at once.
People Also Ask
Why are unaccompanied migrant children losing their lawyers?
The federal contract funding their legal representation, held by the Acacia Center for Justice, expired July 31 after the Office of Refugee Resettlement declined to renew it amid a dispute over confidential client data. Payments had already stopped in November.
What is the Acacia Center for Justice?
A nonprofit that managed the roughly $200 million federal contract for children's legal services for the last five years, overseeing a network of nearly 100 legal groups that represent children in ORR custody nationwide.
What happens to children who have no legal representation?
They can be made to represent themselves in immigration court. Attorneys say unaccompanied children win the right to stay less than 1 percent of the time without a lawyer, and most would likely be deported.
Will the government replace the children's legal aid contract?
ORR notified Acacia on July 29 that it is considering a new contract, potentially with different providers, but has not said who or when. Providers are also suing over roughly $65 million in unpaid work.