Rosa Diaz walks along the banks of the Rio Grande with her six-year-old son, Fabian Los Diaz, to surrender to U.S. Border Patrol after they entered Texas at Eagle Pass with a a group of fellow migrants from Venezuela on Monday January 8, 2024.
San Francisco, California – Legal aid clinics that sued the Trump administration over the cancellation of legal services for unaccompanied migrant children are still in limbo despite a federal judge’s order to reinstate those services. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of San Francisco ruled on Tuesday that the government must restore legal assistance for these vulnerable children, following a lawsuit filed by legal aid groups. The judge found that the abrupt termination of funding violated the 2008 anti-trafficking law, which mandates the provision of legal counsel for minors in immigration proceedings. The order, which took effect Wednesday and will last through April 16, called for the return to the status quo pending further legal developments.
However, legal aid providers expressed uncertainty on Wednesday about whether the government will comply with the ruling. The Acacia Center for Justice, which provides legal services through a network of subcontracted organizations, said they have not received any official guidance on how to proceed. “We’re still stuck in this impossible situation,” said Bilal Askaryar, a spokesperson for Acacia. “Attorneys who work with these vulnerable kids have no clarity about what to do next.”
The lawsuit, filed by eleven subcontractor groups, highlighted the risk that 26,000 children would lose their legal representation after the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding for direct legal services. The plaintiffs argued that many of these children, some too young to speak and others too traumatized to understand their rights, would face serious risks of exploitation and trafficking without legal assistance. The 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act mandates that children entering the U.S. alone receive legal representation to navigate the complex immigration system.
Despite the judge’s ruling, legal aid providers remain in a state of uncertainty. Alvaro M. Huerta, an attorney with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said they are waiting for guidance on how to proceed. “Many organizations continue to represent children in court given their ethical and professional obligations,” Huerta noted, “but without government funding, they are struggling to continue.”
While the government maintains that legal services like “know your rights” clinics are still being provided, the cessation of direct legal representation remains a significant challenge for those advocating for migrant children’s rights. The $200 million contract for direct legal services was a small part of the $5 billion Congress allocated for the care of unaccompanied minors, yet it remains critical to the integrity of the immigration system for these children.
This legal setback marks the third in less than a week for the Trump administration’s immigration policies. A federal judge in Boston ruled on Friday that individuals facing deportation must have a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removal, while another judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked the termination of protections for Venezuelan nationals.
