Kennedy creates new legal division

On September twenty-ninth, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new Unaccompanied Alien Children Representation Division in the general counsel's office to provide legal services for unaccompanied alien children in deportation proceedings.

Government lawyers face off against themselves

Trump administration lawyers will now represent children against Trump administration lawyers in deportation proceedings before immigration judges employed by the Department of Justice. Trump sits atop all actors in this play.

Congress required legal help for children

The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of two thousand eight directs that unaccompanied alien children have access to counsel to represent them in legal proceedings and protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking.

Twenty thousand children appear yearly

Many of the twenty thousand children who appear in immigration courts each year have no counsel. For decades, HHS contracted with legal service providers such as the Acacia Center for Justice to handle court representation.

Trump stops funding legal nonprofits

Last November, the Trump administration stopped paying many legal nonprofits if they refused to turn over confidential information about their pediatric clients, cutting off independent legal representation for migrant children.

OUR Rescue gets hundred fifty-eight million

OUR Rescue, a controversial organization founded by a former Trump adviser, received a one hundred fifty-eight million dollar sole-source, no-bid contract to represent children.

Burke Law Group also gets no-bid deal

Burke Law Group, whose principal worked for Trump in his first administration, also received a no-bid contract. The firm does energy law, not immigration law, raising questions about its ability to represent children.

Lawyers face ethical violations

For the lawyers involved, dual representation violates professional conduct standards including obligations not to represent clients with concurrent conflicts of interest, not to reveal confidential information without consent, and to zealously represent minor children.

Toddlers appear in removal proceedings

Pre-verbal toddlers as young as two are routinely issued notices to appear for removal proceedings and increasingly show up without legal representation.

Representation dramatically changes outcomes

Statistics show that children's deportation rates go from over eighty percent to just twelve percent if they are represented by counsel. Legal representation is the decisive factor in whether children can remain in the country.

Acacia Center files bid protest

The Acacia Center for Justice has filed a bid protest against the contracts awarded to OUR Rescue and Burke Law Group. Meanwhile, there is legitimate concern that children will not receive effective counsel.

Due process becomes farcical

With Trump administration lawyers or Trump-adjacent organizations now on both sides of children's immigration proceedings, their Fifth Amendment right to due process becomes farcical. The government's dual role undermines fair treatment.

“the true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children”