{"id":1249,"date":"2026-07-31T16:10:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1249"},"modified":"2026-07-31T16:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:10:55","slug":"thousands-of-migrant-kids-are-set-to-lose-to-legal-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1249","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of Migrant Kids Are Set to Lose to Legal Representation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- begin partial\/series-card --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><i><span>Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news \u2014 make a <\/span><\/i><i><span>quick donation<\/span><\/i><i><span> to Truthout today!\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1247\">The Fight Against AI Data Centers Is Spreading Globally<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children could lose their lawyers beginning Friday as federally funded contracts supporting them are set to expire, prompting advocates to warn that the move will leave vulnerable minors to face deportation proceedings frightened and alone.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2003, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has funded a nationwide network of around 100 advocacy groups that have offered legal services to unaccompanied minors who arrived in the United States without their parents or legal guardians, as well as children already in immigration custody.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s move to withhold over $65 million in congressionally appropriated funding starting late last year forced dozens of nonprofit advocacy groups to trim operations, refuse new clients, or end vital programs altogether. There is no apparent plan for continuing representation for roughly 20,000 children currently receiving legal assistance as they navigate the US immigration courts and deportation process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a five-alarm fire,\u201d Sen. Jeff Merkley said Thursday on social media. \u201cIt\u2019s wrong under every moral code.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shaina Aber, executive director of Acacia Center for Justice \u2014 one of the nonprofits that received funding through the program \u2014 told <em>El Pa\u00eds\u2019<\/em> Patricia Clarembaux on Thursday, \u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen on August 1 because the government has not informed us of the transition plan for the 20,000 children who have representation under this contract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will really depend on whether the attorneys have alternative funding that allows them to continue,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A child cannot be expected to navigate immigration court alone, yet that is exactly what will happen starting this Saturday if the Trump administration succeeds in dismantling these legal services.Tell Congress to honor its promise to protect unaccompanied children: tinyurl.com\/protect-kids<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Acacia Center for Justice (@acaciajustice.org) 2026-07-29T21:51:27.040945166Z<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>HHS told <em>El Pa\u00eds<\/em> that its Office of Refugee Resettlement \u2014 which is responsible for looking after immigrant minors \u2014 \u201cremains fully compliant with legal and regulatory obligations and does not act in any way that could dissuade a child from seeking appropriate legal relief.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1245\">State Department Mislabels Every Country on Map of Africa at Global Conference<\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, as Acacia Center noted, \u201cwithout legal representation, fewer than 1% of immigrant children are granted immigration relief. Without access to counsel, tens of thousands of vulnerable children could be forced to navigate life-changing legal proceedings with fewer protections, fewer advocates, and less time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHHS must honor its commitment and fulfill its obligation to pay for legal services already provided to prevent unaccompanied children from being stripped of their lawyers and deported without due process,\u201d the group argued.<\/p>\n<p>Critics also point to President Donald Trump\u2019s record of mistreating unauthorized immigrants, especially children, over the course of his two terms. During his first term (2017\u201321), \u201czero tolerance\u201d policies, including family separation and expanded use of what many observers call concentration camps, left thousands of children traumatized. Detention in overcrowded and often squalid facilities reportedly plagued by abuse has harmed many children since Trump\u2019s return to the White House last year.<\/p>\n<p>Katie, a member of the group Women of Welcome and sponsor of immigrant children, responded to the imminent HHS funding cutoff last week, saying, \u201cI have worked with immigrants in my professional life and have a lot of immigrant friends, but seeing the journey through the eyes of these kids was very new.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe little girl I am adopting has been through a lot of trauma, and I may never know what she has gone through,\u201d Katie added. \u201cShe is resilient and funny, but she is 6, and she shouldn\u2019t have to fight this system alone. This experience has not only deepened my faith, but I have learned more and more about how important the work of advocacy and loving people is. For these children, it is difficult to fight a system that isn\u2019t built to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anna Devereaux, senior managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said that \u201cchildren are children, regardless of their nationality, and our law and our values require us to act in their best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the government\u2019s failure to provide long-term funding has made it challenging to sustain a legal program for children,\u201d she added. \u201cIf this funding ends now, the future for these children is uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aber said: \u201cThese children are not leverage in a political negotiation. They are human beings \u2014 many of whom fled violence, trafficking, and abuse \u2014 who have a legally and morally recognized right to have their cases heard with a lawyer by their side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbandoning children to meet deportation targets is immoral,\u201d she asserted. \u201cThis must stop. These children deserve legal representation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1243\">Nearly All of Europe Vow to Boycott World Cup Over Plan for Kushner Family Sale<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Expiration of federally funded contracts will leave some 20,000 children to face deportation proceedings alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thousands of Migrant Kids Are Set to Lose to Legal Representation - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1249\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thousands of Migrant Kids Are Set to Lose to Legal Representation - 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