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US migrant child legal aid contract

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What changed

2026-08-06 00:14 UTC → 2026-08-06 20:54 UTC · added removed

In early July 2026 the Trump administration announced it was looking to seeking Texas firms for assistance in providing to provide legal aid to unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. custody. By early August a $150 million, year‑long contract was awarded to the Houston‑based Burke Law Group. The deal, Group, slated to start begin on 15 August, will cover August and covering roughly 20,000 children, including those children in shelters and those living with private sponsors. Critics noted highlighted the firm’s limited immigration experience and warned that its lack of expertise could jeopardise due‑process protections. The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the award follows as a sole‑source contract. Burke Law Group employs 26 staff across eight offices, but only two attorneys list immigration or asylum practice. Founder Marcella Burke, a former EPA deputy solicitor and Interior Department deputy general counsel under the expiration of first Trump administration, leads the firm. The contract replaces a prior contract agreement with the Acacia Center for Justice, which Justice; the government had managed a network of more than 100 nonprofit service providers and still owed withheld about $65 million in unpaid fees. fees from that network after demanding confidential client data. Legal‑aid groups such as the Amica Center cautioned that the limited expertise could threaten due‑process rights for roughly 1,800 children in government shelters and about 22,000 placed with private sponsors. The move is part absence of a broader push by the administration to increase deportations and competitive bidding process has drawn further criticism for the sole‑source nature of the contract and the firm’s ties to that the former president. children may receive inadequate representation.

Versions

  1. 2026-08-06 20:54 UTC US migrant child legal aid contract
  2. 2026-08-06 00:14 UTC US migrant child legal aid contract

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