Importance Score: 85 / 100 🟢
A pregnant 16-year-old, a survivor of sex trafficking since age 6, sought refuge across the Mexican border, aiming to shield her unborn child from similar exploitation. This immigrant child, along with her toddler, received crucial legal aid from a Los Angeles-based organization to secure their safety in the U.S. This group is part of a coalition that initiated legal action against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday, protesting the “shutdown of essential legal representation programs for unaccompanied immigrant children.” The lawsuit underscores the critical need for continued support amidst concerns over funding cuts affecting vulnerable populations.
Legal Advocacy Groups Challenge Federal Funding Cuts
“What kind of system exists when our government appears more inclined to fund attorneys for child deportation than to provide legal counsel dedicated to safeguarding children’s rights?” questioned Alvaro Huerta, litigation and advocacy director at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, in a public statement. The legal challenge was formally lodged in a federal district court in California.
Despite President Donald Trump’s previous assertions during his campaign about protecting women and children from human trafficking, legal professionals contend that his administration’s policies have jeopardized thousands of children. This peril stems from the termination of funding for legal assistance, which is vital for navigating the complexities of immigration court proceedings.
For numerous young immigrants, the absence of legal aid could result in familial separation, disrupting potential safe harbor with relatives or guardians within the U.S. Attorneys argue this lack of support increases their vulnerability to re-exposure to abusive, potentially life-threatening environments.
The cancellation of contracts that financed organizations offering legal representation has compelled these entities to implement staff reductions, actively seek alternative funding mechanisms, or, as a last resort, withdraw from ongoing cases.
Organizations Face Staff Reductions
Huerta’s organization, which aided the teenage trafficking survivor and her infant, has reportedly issued layoff notices to 27 staff members to ensure financial stability while continuing to serve as many clients as possible, as detailed in the lawsuit. Estrella Del Paso in El Paso, Texas, has placed 18 out of 28 employees within its unaccompanied children program on furlough. Similarly, the Galveston-Houston Immigration Representation Project (GHRIP) anticipates laying off a significant portion of its 19 employees who provide services to unaccompanied minors.
Among GHRIP’s clientele is a 2-year-old child who arrived with her adolescent mother, herself an unaccompanied minor and abuse victim. Alexa Sendukas, managing attorney at GHIRP, informed NBC News of her efforts to secure special immigrant juvenile status for the toddler. This intricate process necessitates a local juvenile court determination confirming that returning the child to her country of origin is not in her best interest.
Securing permanent legal status for the child may extend over five years. However, the funding cuts endanger Sendukas’ capacity to continue representation. GHIRP currently represents approximately 300 unaccompanied children whose legal services were previously covered by the now-discontinued funding. The organization faces the challenge of determining its next steps, compounded by attorneys’ ethical obligations that complicate case withdrawal.
Neither the White House nor the Department of Health and Human Services provided immediate responses to NBC News’ requests for comment regarding the lawsuit and the criticisms from legal groups concerning the funding reductions and their anticipated impact on children.
Impact of Policy on Vulnerable Children
Immigrant advocacy groups emphasize that children who have escaped trafficking, violence, famine, and abuse are being deprived of crucial legal aid, precisely as the Trump administration intensifies its focus on their deportation.
NBC News reported last month on the Trump administration’s plans to locate and potentially deport unaccompanied children.
Children like a 12-year-old boy from Central America with a significant speech-impairing disability are particularly vulnerable. Emily Norman, managing director of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) in Hartford, Connecticut, has been providing legal counsel to him.
According to Norman, the boy endured severe hardships: his mother passed away, his father was abusive, and he was forced into labor from a young age, while also suffering bullying due to his disability. Eventually abandoned by his father, the family member who brought him to the U.S. could no longer care for him.
After extensive weekly sessions, the boy began to improve his communication skills, and KIND was poised to initiate the process for special immigrant juvenile status—a designation for children under 21 who have experienced abuse, abandonment, or neglect.
Although this special status offers a pathway to lawful permanent residency, the boy is now in deportation proceedings in immigration court. “Now, due to funding cuts, we are unable to continue representing him,” Norman stated.
“My greatest fear is his deportation to a country where he lacks care and communication abilities. How will he seek assistance if needed?” Norman expressed with emotion. “Many children are in this predicament, and we must inform them that we can no longer provide the support we promised, leaving them to navigate this situation alone.”
Limited Legal Representation for Unaccompanied Minors
Approximately one in five of the estimated 118,000 unaccompanied children in the U.S. have legal representation. This scarcity leaves many to face court proceedings alone, or accompanied by parents, guardians, or siblings who may not be proficient in English or possess adequate comprehension of legal processes, according to Bilal Askaryar, spokesperson for Acacia Center for Justice.
Acacia, whose government contract was not renewed, had subcontracted with over 100 organizations nationwide, including KIND, to deliver legal aid to roughly 26,000 unaccompanied children.
Attorneys from affected groups report that their clients are now receiving notices for immigration court hearings, even those in the midst of seeking protective immigration statuses to remain in the U.S. Some children are also being placed on “rocket dockets,” a term for expedited deportation schedules, according to the Acacia Center for Justice.
Policy Changes and Family Sponsorship
The Trump administration’s policy now involves sharing the immigration status of adults sponsoring unaccompanied children with law enforcement and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Consequently, ORR can decline to release children to sponsors—including parents, guardians, or family members—due to the sponsor’s undocumented immigration status.
The repercussions of these recent policy shifts are beginning to emerge.
“We are witnessing instances where caring relatives, who have previously looked after these children, are attempting to sponsor them out of custody but are unable to do so. This is leading to increased requests for transfer to long-term foster care,” explained Sendukas of GHIRP. “We have even observed more children requesting voluntary departure, fearing indefinite detention due to perceived lack of available sponsors.”
Children ‘Left on Their Own’
During his first term, Trump’s “zero tolerance” strategy, which infamously resulted in parental separation at the border, sparked widespread condemnation. While attorneys interviewed by NBC News refrained from directly comparing the revocation of legal representation to family separations, several acknowledged that the new policy would inflict trauma on children, many already carrying significant psychological burdens.
Kayleen Hartman, KIND’s managing attorney for family unity, specializes in cases of children separated from their parents. Hartman described it as “heartbreaking” to potentially discontinue representation for a young girl, approximately 7 years old at the time, who was “physically, tearfully, forcefully” separated from her father under Trump’s policy by agents and officers who did not speak their Indigenous language.
The girl’s father was deported, and she was placed in foster care where she faced reprimands for not speaking or understanding Spanish, Hartman recounted. She was subsequently moved to the home of distant relatives and then to other households, before finally residing with another distant relative, where she experienced sexual assault by a male family member. The girl disclosed the assault to a friend, whose mother then alerted state child welfare services, leading to the girl being placed in foster care. At this point, KIND took on her case, according to Hartman. Utilizing a process initiated by the Biden Family Unification Task Force, KIND successfully reunited her with her father in the U.S.
Hartman and her team are “scrambling” to expedite temporary legal status for the girl before KIND must close her case. However, immigration backlogs impede rapid resolution.
Nearly all clients they are currently informing about the termination of legal services “have experienced significant prior trauma,” Hartman noted. “These are children who have been abandoned and left on their own.”
KIND manages around 4,400 cases that were supported by funding from Acacia Center for Justice. Wendy Young, KIND’s president, stated that the funding cutoff has necessitated downsizing, resulting in staff layoffs. The organization is endeavoring to transfer cases to pro bono partners in the private sector, but in many instances, KIND will be compelled to withdraw representation, Young explained.
Consequently, children may fail to appear for legal proceedings and miss opportunities to secure protections for which they are eligible.
“This administration is regressing 30 years,” Young asserted, harking back to a period “when children were compelled to navigate a complex, adversarial immigration system and courtroom alone, regardless of their age, be it 2 or 6 years old.”