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Post By: Ellie Pearce
On March 21, 2025, the Trump Administration partially terminated the program that allowed children who crossed the border into the United States alone to obtain legal representation in immigration proceedings.[1] For over two decades, the United States has been required by law to protect immigrant youth crossing the U.S. border alone to avoid children being trafficked, exploited, or abused.[2] The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is a government agency that Congress originally funded to provide legal services to children who cross the border alone.[3] Once children were transferred to the ORR, Congress would provide funding to a network of nearly 100 legal groups to provide unaccompanied children with legal services necessary for immigration proceedings.[4] However, in March 2025, the Trump Administration officially terminated funding for legal representation of unaccompanied immigrant children.[5] After many grueling legal battles over why the Trump Administration has not provided the required funding, in November of 2025, the agency began demanding that the lawyers offering services to unaccompanied immigrant children provide confidential and privileged client information to receive funding for their services.[6] Because of widespread unwillingness to provide confidential client information, ORR stopped paying the lawyers aiding unaccompanied children and did not renew their contract.[7]
The Previous Contract
Congress established two statutes to govern the legal representation of children who cross the border alone in immigration proceedings.[8] These statutes are the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HSA) and the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008 (TVPRA).[9] The HSA provides ORR broad authority over the care and custody of unaccompanied children while they are in federal custody.[10] Congress has provided funds for programs to provide services to unaccompanied children since 2012.[11] The Acacia Center for Justice is a non-profit organization that partners with a large network of human rights defenders who provide legal defense to immigrants at risk of detention or deportation.[12] Specifically, the Acacia Center is one of the largest organizations connecting unaccompanied children to legal representation.[13] The purpose of the Acacia Center’s program is to provide life-saving assistance to unaccompanied children who need an advocate to ensure their due process rights and best interests are protected.[14] Less than one percent of children navigating the immigration system alone win any form of relief from deportation.[15]
On March 21, 2025, the Department of the Interior (DOI) sent a letter to Acacia Center to terminate the contract line items through which HHS and ORR provided funding for counsel for unaccompanied immigrant children.[16] On July 31, 2026, the Trump Administration ended its federal contract with the Acacia Center, which left more than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children without representation.[17] Additionally, the government withheld payment for work that lawyers already performed under the Acacia Center. The only way the attorneys would receive that payment — disclosing privileged and confidential information about their minor clients.
Relevant Case Law
The case for representation for unaccompanied minors remains a long-standing legal battle.[18] Many cases have sought to address immigrant children being separated from their parents at the outset[19]. In Ms. L v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the court held that ICE is prohibited from detaining immigrant families separately from their minor children unless the parents are deemed unfit or present a danger to the child.[20] In Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, the court entered a nationwide preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and ORR from taking away funding for direct legal representation of unaccompanied minors.[21] The court held that the defendants’ refusal to disburse funds based on Acacia’s unwillingness to comply with providing information was a violation of both the plain language and the spirit of the preliminary injunction.[22] The court ordered the defendants to release the funds they’d been withholding since December of 2025 and prohibited them from withholding funds based on whether Acacia complied with providing confidential information.[23] However, as of August 2026, the defendants have yet to comply with the preliminary injunction.[24]
Impact on Unaccompanied Children
Not having access to legal representation in immigration proceedings has had devastating effects on unaccompanied children.[25] Without access to representation, children ranging from infants to toddlers to teenagers will be forced to navigate complex immigration proceedings and face the possibility of deportation on their own.[26] Navigating immigration law can be a difficult process even for experienced attorneys, let alone for children who may or may not speak English, or speak at all.[27] It is nearly impossible to ensure these children receive due process if they do not have access to counsel.[28]
There are many harmful impacts outside of the legal process as well. Many unaccompanied children who are apprehended by border patrol officials experience trauma and mental health concerns as a result of crossing the border.[29] Many unaccompanied children are seeking asylum to find protection from life-threatening conditions associated with trafficking, war, organized violence, and political or religious unrest.[30] Moreover, multiple studies have shown that immigrant children face a higher rate of mental health struggles, from depression and anxiety to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.[31]
Because unaccompanied children usually do not have family or support systems across the border, these children face an extremely high risk of exploitation and human trafficking.[32] Additionally, deporting unaccompanied children increases the risk of returning them to situations of trafficking, abuse, and exploitation.[33] In a study conducted by the University of Chicago, researchers found that unrepresented children only succeeded in 2% of immigration cases.[34]
Why Legal Representation Helps
Many professionals emphasize how important understanding the mental health of children and adolescents is in advocating for reform.[35] Misinformation about child development or lack of emphasis on child wellbeing can result in policies that promote having children legally represent themselves in immigration court.[36] The prolonged uncertainty that comes along with waiting for determination of asylum status or safeguards for immigrant children is associated with poor mental health in these children.[37] Providing legal counsel to these children while they are already in a vulnerable state is one of the many ways the legal profession can combat the harm being done to children in the immigration system.[38] A child’s immigration attorney may be the only trusted adult in that child’s life.[39] In many cases, a child’s attorney may be in the best position to learn information needed to protect the child from unsafe conditions such as trafficking and abuse.[40] Attorneys may be the best option to get children to appear in court in the first place as well.[41] Unrepresented children are more likely to not receive adequate notice about their immigration court proceedings.[42] Organizations such as the Acacia Center must receive the funding they need to carry out immigration representation for unaccompanied children.
Sources:
[1]Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Legal Service Providers Demand Immediate Action as Unaccompanied Children Languish in Immigration Court Without Legal Representation, Immigrant Defenders Law Center (Apr. 25, 2025), https://www.immdef.org/blog/ucphearing3.
[2] Chiara Eisner, More than 25,000 Children Lose Previous Legal Protections, as Federal Contract Ends, NPR (Aug. 1, 2026, 6:00 AM ET), https://www.npr.org/2026/08/01/nx-s1-5913679/immigrant-children-lawyers-trump-administration
[3]Id.
[4]Id.
[5]Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, University of Michigan Law School (Mar. 26, 2025), https://clearinghouse.net/case/46306/
[6]Chiara Eisner, More than 25,000 Children Lose Previous Legal Protections, as Federal Contract Ends, NPR (Aug. 1, 2026, 6:00 AM ET), https://www.npr.org/2026/08/01/nx-s1-5913679/immigrant-children-lawyers-trump-administration.
[7]Id.
[8] Cmty. Legal Servs. in E. Palo Alto v. United States Dep’t of Health & Hum. Servs., 780 F. Supp. 3d 897, 908 (N.D. Cal. 2025).
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id. at 909.
[12]Acacia Center for Justice, About Us, https://acaciajustice.org/about-us/
[13]Acacia Center for Justice, Acacia Will Not Hand Over Confidential Data About Our Young Clients That the Government Has No Right to, https://acaciajustice.org/acacia-will-not-hand-over-confidential-data-about-our-young-clients-that-the-government-has-no-right-to/
[14]Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, CGRS Decries Gutting of Unaccompanied Children Program (July 31, 2026), https://cgrs.uclawsf.edu/en/news/cgrs-decries-gutting-unaccompanied-children-program
[15]Id.
[16] See Cmty. Legal Servs. in E. Palo Alto v. United States Dep’t of Health & Hum. Servs., 780 F. Supp. 3d 897, 909 (N.D. Cal. 2025)
[17]Acacia Center for Justice, Trump Administration Ends Unaccompanied Children Program Contract with Acacia’s Legal Service Providers, https://acaciajustice.org/trump-administration-ends-unaccompanied-children-program-contract-with-acacias-legal-service-providers/
[18]Cmty Legal Services in East Palo Alto v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, University of Michigan Law School, https://clearinghouse.net/case/46306/.
[19] Ms. L. v. U.S. Immigr. & Customs Enf’t (“ICE”), 310 F. Supp. 3d 1133, 1149 (S.D. Cal. 2018).
[20]Id.
[21] Cmty. Legal Servs. in E. Palo Alto v. United States Dep’t of Health & Hum. Servs., 780 F. Supp. 3d 897, 927 (N.D. Cal. 2025)
[22]Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Univ. of Mich. Law Sch., https://clearinghouse.net/case/46306/.
[23]Id.
[24]Id.
[25]Maggie Grether, Trump Wants Thousands of Migrant Children to Represent Themselves in Court, The Nation (May 23, 2025), https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/unaccompanied-migrant-children-trump-cuts-legal-representation/
[26]Id.
[27]Id.
[28]Id.
[29]National Immigration Forum, Fact Sheet: Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UACs) (Nov. 2, 2020), https://forumtogether.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Fact-Sheet-Unaccompanied-Migrant-Children.pdf.
[30]Suzan J. Song, Mental Health of Unaccompanied Children: Effects of U.S. Immigration Policies, 7 BJPsych Open, no. 6, e200 (2021), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8570101/
[31] Zwi K, Mares S, Nathanson D, Tay AK, Silove D. The impact of detention on the social-emotional wellbeing of children seeking asylum: a comparison with community-based children. Eur. Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2018; 27: 411–22
[32]National Immigration Forum, Fact Sheet: Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UACs) (Nov. 2, 2020), https://forumtogether.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Fact-Sheet-Unaccompanied-Migrant-Children.pdf.
[33]Id.
[34]Sarah Steimer, Identifying Unaccompanied Minors in the U.S. Finds Disparities in Court Representation, Univ. of Chi., Dep’t of Compar. Hum. Dev. (Apr. 22, 2025), https://humdev.uchicago.edu/news/identifying-unaccompanied-minors-us-finds-disparities-court-representation
[35]Suzan J. Song, Mental Health of Unaccompanied Children: Effects of U.S. Immigration Policies, 7 BJPsych Open, no. 6, e200 (2021), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8570101/
[36]Id.
[37]Id.
[38]Chiara Eisner, More than 25,000 Children Lose Previous Legal Protections, as Federal Contract Ends, NPR (Aug. 1, 2026, 6:00 AM ET), https://www.npr.org/2026/08/01/nx-s1-5913679/immigrant-children-lawyers-trump-administration
[39]American Bar Ass’n, Center for Immigration Law & Justice & Comm’n on Immigr., Unaccompanied Minors in Immigration Court: The Critical Role of Legal Representation (Apr. 10, 2025), https://cilacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-04-10-uc-immigration-court-explainer.pdf
[40]Id.
[41]Id.
[42]Id.