Thousands of migrant children to lose Legal Aid as federal contract lapses
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Children who cross into the United States alone are losing access to immigration lawyers. For the first time in more than 20 years, the federal government hasn't renewed its contract with the nonprofit groups that represent unaccompanied minors in court, and that could put thousands of children at higher risk of deportation. NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner joins us in our studios. Chiara, thanks so much for being with us.
CHIARA EISNER, BYLINE: Thank you.
SIMON: Help us get hold of the size of this problem. How many children are affected?
EISNER: The legal nonprofits who represent these kids estimate that more than 26,000 kids could lose representation. The U.S. decided decades ago that those children deserved protection here in the U.S. by law because children who cross the border alone are vulnerable to abuse and trafficking. The government has since paid a network of almost 100 legal organizations to provide kids with that legal help. But the Trump administration stopped making payments to those legal organizations, and they're now owed more than $65 million in total, and the contract with those providers did expire yesterday and hasn't been renewed.
SIMON: And, Chiara, why did the government stop paying these groups?
EISNER: Well, to answer that, we need to talk about the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR. That's the agency responsible for housing those unaccompanied children. ORR started asking the lawyers for confidential information about the kids last year. That's never happened before, their lawyers say, and the lawyers didn't share that data. They say they're legally prohibited from providing that sort of information to anyone because it violates a long-standing legal and ethical rule called attorney-client privilege. That means attorneys can't share details about their clients. The lawyers are now facing the fact that they may have to wind down the services they've been providing to the kids they represent, and some have already started to do that.
SIMON: And what happens to these children if lawyers can't represent them?
EISNER: Lawyers aren't exactly sure because this has never happened before, but I spoke with a lawyer, Alexa Sendukas, who works for the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, or GHIRP. She said children would have to represent themselves in court. But many of these kids can't speak fluent English, and some of them are too young to have learned how to talk at all. Sendukas said that would probably end up with more than 99% of them getting deported. Here's Sendukas now.
ALEXA SENDUKAS: And they've come to the United States seeking safety and protection. And what this administration is asking us to do now is to turn our backs on them completely. And they will undoubtedly be sent to harmful, dangerous situations. And I worry some will be killed if they lose their lawyers.
EISNER: The U.S. would be returning young children to places where they may not have any guardians and sending them back alone. We should also note that we reached out to ORR and the White House with questions about this and didn't hear back. The ORR did tell The Washington Post in a statement that the agency remains fully compliant with its legal and regulatory obligations.
SIMON: And, Chiara, does this not violate the law?
EISNER: The lawyers think denying kids access to legal representation is a violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act that requires children in the U.S. who cross the border alone to receive protection from the U.S. government. A group of those legal nonprofits sued ORR last year and asked a judge to force the government to pay them for what's owed and continue paying them for more services. On Wednesday, the government informed the network that they were considering a new contract, potentially, with different providers. But as of today, no contract is in place, and as soon as Monday, kids could still have to start appearing in court alone.
SIMON: NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner. Chiara, thanks so much for being with us.
EISNER: Thank you, Scott.
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