A new proposal from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would move legal appointments for unaccompanied immigrant children to an online platform.
When immigrant children enter the U.S. alone, they’re housed in government-run shelters as they connect with parents or other sponsors and their immigration case proceeds. A network of aid groups in Arizona and elsewhere provide them with legal assistance through a federally funded program.
“The funds have been appropriated, the money exists, the money exists, and in the grand scheme of the federal budget, you know, this is not the largest program,” said Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.
Lukens’ group is one of several across the U.S. providing the legal service in shelters. He says that first, in-person meeting is where attorneys get to know the child and prep them on what to expect in immigration court.
“You know, it’s what everything is based on, it’s the foundation for our ability to help the child. This very much looks like an attempt to make it easier for children to be deported,” Lukens said.
The government contract that funds groups like the Amica Center is expiring in April. The new call for proposals is asking for contracts to move the entire process online. Lukens says the new plan wouldn’t save the government money on the program, but would make it less effective.
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The ruling comes a day after news broke of the government’s plan to offer legal aid to detained immigrant children through a $150 million contract Burke Law Group — a small Texas-based firm with a co-founder who is a former Trump appointee. -
A notice posted on the Federal Register this week details a $150 million government contract with Burke Law Group to represent unaccompanied immigrant children. A multimillion-dollar contact with nonprofits across the country to do the work expired Friday. -
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supposed to help people during disasters like floods and fires. But a new report finds the Trump administration diverted FEMA staff at key times to do something very different — help ICE in immigration enforcement. -
The DACA program turned 14 this year. The Obama-era initiative is supposed to give some undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a work permit and temporary protection from deportation. But community members say that’s no longer the case under President Donald Trump. -
Some 20,000 children alone in the US receive legal aid through the contract — part of a federal program established by Congress almost two decades ago. The contract to do that work expires July 31.
