Bipartisan senators rebuke White House move to end legal aid for unaccompanied minors

Two senators are mounting a rare bipartisan attack against the Trump administration's approach to due process for migrants.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., in a letter criticizing the end of a federal contract that provides legal representation to 26,000 children who are in the U.S. without a parent or guardian.

The decision to end the contract in late March "puts children directly at risk of trafficking and exploitation, and harms any hope of a fair legal process for thousands of vulnerable children," they wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday.

The letter, which was obtained by NPR, marks rare bipartisan condemnation from Capitol Hill of the administration's immigration policy; so far, Democrats have sent most of the letters raising questions or concerns.

The administration last month ended a contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, which provided legal services to unaccompanied migrant children under the age of 18, including in-court representation and clinics.

"Terminating legal representation for these children means that toddlers will now face a courtroom and judge with no adult to advocate on their behalf," Ossoff and Murkowski wrote. "Children will be asked to make decisions about their legal rights well beyond their comprehension, with life-altering consequences."

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is part of HHS and manages programs related to unaccompanied migrant children. HHS did not respond to a request for comment. In court filings, it has argued that federal agencies have discretion on whether to keep funding such legal services.

Dispute over 2008 trafficking law

Ossoff and Murkowski raised concerns that ending the legal funding under the contract would violate the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.

The act requires "HHS to ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that all unaccompanied children have counsel to represent them in legal proceedings," Ossoff and Murkowski wrote.

Their letter follows a similar appeal from House members last month.

Several subcontractor groups that received funding from Acacia sued over the contract termination, also arguing that the stop in funding violated the 2008 law.

But lawyers representing HHS have argued that the 2008 law leaves much in the hands of the agency; it "does not create an enforceable right to government-funded representation, let alone compel the agency to maintain any particular scope of services or contractual relationship."

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in the groups' favor in early April and ordered HHS to restore funding at least until the end of the month.

In response, the administration agreed to extend the contract for six more months to wind down programmatic work and find new representation for the children.

But it's unclear what happens after that.

"After the six-month extension, there are a lot of open questions about what protections these vulnerable kids will have," Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, said in an interview.

"It is incredibly important that children are provided with an understanding of their rights to be safe and free from harm and to report rights violations to independent legal services providers who can advocate on behalf of children."

The Justice Department separately issued an order to stop funding work across several other Acacia programs in immigration court, including assistance for the guardians of unaccompanied children.

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