$150M Migrant Kids’ Legal Contract Goes to Trump-Linked Firm
The Trump administration has awarded a $150 million contract to provide legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children to a small Houston-based law firm with ties to the administration but little experience in immigration law, according to NBC News. The move has prompted legal aid groups who have long represented these children to warn that it could make them vulnerable to deportation.
Contract Details and Concerns
The year-long contract with Burke Law Group begins August 15 and was awarded as a “single source cooperative agreement,” meaning the administration selected the firm without a competitive bidding process. No justification was offered for bypassing standard bidding rules.
Only two of the 25 lawyers listed on the firm’s website claim relevant experience in immigration law in their biographies. The firm specializes in advising “companies on complex environmental, regulatory, and enforcement matters,” according to its website.
The contract only applies to approximately 1,800 children currently held in government-run shelters. Roughly 22,000 children living outside the shelter system with sponsors, such as family members, are not covered.
Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, called the sole-source contract “upsetting and shocking.”
“It really does forebode a situation where children are going to get no meaningful due process, no meaningful day in court. We cannot have a random law firm entrusted to take care of children,” Lukens said.
Firm’s Ties to the Administration
The firm’s founder, Marcella Burke, served in Trump’s first administration as a lawyer in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Other notable figures on the firm’s roster include Justin Shubow, a former Trump appointee to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and prominent conservative legal scholar Ilya Shapiro, listed as “senior counsel.”
As NPR reported, a founding partner, Jeffrey Hall, was recently appointed and confirmed to serve as Assistant Administrator at the EPA. During his confirmation hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) expressed concern about his nomination.
Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, criticized the award.
“Instead of taking care of these children, the government is instead implementing things such as awarding a contract to a private small law firm in Texas with no discernible experience in relevant immigration law or child welfare,” she said.
Expired Contract and Unpaid Invoices
The new contract comes after the previous agreement with a network of nearly 100 legal aid providers expired on July 31. The Trump administration had stopped paying those legal nonprofits in November when lawyers refused to turn over confidential information about the children, citing attorney-client privilege.
Legal service providers say the federal government owes them $65 million in unpaid invoices, and there is an ongoing lawsuit over the issue. Some groups have begun laying off staff and shuttering offices. ProBar in south Texas laid off 20% of its staff, and Mid-South Immigration Advocates is closing its offices in Nashville and Memphis at the end of September.
Melissa Lopez, executive director of Estrella El Paso, expressed uncertainty about the children’s future.
“We have no understanding of what’s going to happen to those children come next week,” she said. “We don’t know if they’re going to have legal representation. The government as of yet has not identified who will take over this representation.”
Broader Immigration Enforcement Context
The contract comes as the Trump administration intensifies its mass deportation campaign. Since April, immigration courts have been calling dozens of cases at once in so-called “rocket dockets,” moving up children’s hearings with less time to prepare.
The Associated Press obtained emails sent by the Office of Refugee Resettlement asking lawyers for their clients’ personal identification numbers and requesting responses within four hours confirming they would appear at upcoming hearings. Separately, attorneys in courtrooms across the country reported hearings being interrupted by lawyers claiming they had been asked by the administration to take over children’s cases without prior notice.
Legal Protections at Stake
Migrant children traveling alone are viewed as especially vulnerable because of their age and are usually entrusted to U.S. government care. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 requires the government to facilitate legal representation for children put into deportation proceedings.
Sally Joyner, legal director of Mid-South Immigration Advocates, warned of the consequences of losing representation.
“These are kids who have been living in our communities, going to our schools for you know three, four, five years,” she said. “Some of them they only know the United States and will have gone to high school, graduate high school just in time for ICE to send them to prison.”
What’s Next
The contract with Burke Law Group is scheduled to begin August 15, leaving a two-week gap in services. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement, did not respond to requests for comment.
Acacia Center for Justice, the previous contract holder, said in a statement it is “adamant that whichever organization takes over this contract, it must have the deep experience required to navigate our country’s complex immigration system and the training to work with vulnerable children, many of whom fled violence, trafficking, and abuse to come to this country.”
As the August 15 start date approaches, legal aid advocates say they will continue providing services for free for as long as they can. The broader question of whether the new arrangement will provide meaningful legal representation for some of the nation’s most vulnerable children remains unresolved.