Trump admin halts funding for legal representation of migrant children

The Trump administration notified aid organizations across the country Friday that it would cancel a contract that funds the legal representation of more than 25,000 children who entered the United States alone, a decision that leaves them vulnerable to swift deportation.

In a memo reviewed by The New York Times, the government instructed more than 100 nonprofits to immediately cease their work representing the minors. It terminated a contract that was up for renewal March 29.

Advocates said the move would fast-track the children's court cases, to their disadvantage, because many would be left without counsel in adversarial immigration proceedings.

Children as young as 2 who are survivors of trafficking, trauma and abuse, and who are often too young to understand their legal rights, would be returned to countries where they could face harm, the advocates said.

"Children cannot be expected to navigate the harsh and complicated immigration legal system without an attorney," said Ashley Harrington, managing attorney for the children's program at Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network in Colorado.

"This brazen, heartless act endangers children's lives," she said.

The nonprofit represents about 200 minors, including three siblings, ages 7 to 13, who fled to the United States from Honduras alone last year after their parents were killed by gang members.

The number of children who have crossed the southern U.S. border each year without a parent or legal guardian has increased sharply in the last decade or so, reaching 128,000 in the 2022 fiscal year, according to government data. Most of them are from Central America.

The decision Friday to halt funding to these organizations comes amid reports that the Trump administration intends to track down unaccompanied migrant children to ensure they appear in immigration court or are deported, if there is a final order of removal.

Tom Homan, the administration's "border czar," has said that 300,000 migrant children who entered the United States had been lost by the Biden administration, but immigration lawyers and human rights groups dispute that claim.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the care of migrant children, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Critics said that the Trump administration's decision to eliminate crucial federally funded services ran counter to its stated commitment to protect minors who fall prey to bad actors.

Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, which partners with private law firms to represent minors, said the elimination of the funds, collectively worth about $200 million annually, would make it all but impossible for many children to appear for their court hearings.

"The critical legal programs eliminated today have long-standing bipartisan support from Congress, not only because they protect children from danger, but because they also improve efficiencies in the immigration system by ensuring legal counsel for unaccompanied children who otherwise must navigate a complex court proceeding alone," Young said.

Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the government is required, to the "greatest extent practicable," to provide legal representation to minors.

Unaccompanied children can win the right to remain in the United States by obtaining special immigrant juvenile status, if they can prove they were abused, abandoned or neglected; asylum, if they can show they were persecuted in their home country; or a protection for survivors of crime or trafficking. It is nearly impossible to receive any relief without a lawyer.

The Biden administration had increased access to legal services for unaccompanied minors.

In the 2024 fiscal year, nearly two-thirds of unaccompanied minors had representation when they appeared in court, according to official data. Children who have lawyers attend their hearings 95 per cent of the time; those without representation attend only 33 per cent of the time.

In recent years, thousands who have missed their court dates have been ordered to be deported.