A federal judge in California on Tuesday temporarily blocked a Trump administration policy that ended legal funding for migrant children. Without the ruling, thousands of children would face greater obstacles to remaining in the United States.
The Trump administration canceled a contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, which provides legal help to migrant children under 18 through subcontractors. Several subcontractor groups sued over the order, arguing that 26,000 children were at risk of losing their attorneys.
“The Court additionally finds that the continued funding of legal representation for unaccompanied children promotes efficiency and fairness within the immigration system,” she wrote.
While the government argued that it has no obligation to provide legal representation for children in the country illegally, San Francisco Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín said that the order could violate a 2008 anti-trafficking law.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 was a bipartisan law that protected children entering the country alone and ensured “to the greatest extent practicable” that they have legal representation in proceedings and to “protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking.”
The stay will begin on Wednesday and run through April 16.
The Trump administration began directing immigration agents in late February to track down hundreds of thousands of migrant children who entered the U.S. without their parents. An Immigrations and Customs Enforcement memo sorted them into three groups: “flight risk,” “public safety,” and “border security.”
With “flight risk” children prioritized, the children would receive a notice to appear in immigration court or be deported if deportation papers were pending against them.
The initiative aims to curb human trafficking and other forms of child exploitation.
The federal government has faced criticism for canceling the legal aid, which it views as unessential, as the Trump administration prioritizes cutting unnecessary expenditures and deporting illegal immigrants.
“Children cannot be expected to navigate the harsh and complicated immigration legal system without an attorney,” Ashley Harrington, managing attorney for the children’s program at Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network in Colorado, told the New York Times.
“This brazen, heartless act endangers children’s lives,” she said.
HERE’S WHAT DOGE IS DOING ACROSS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The Department of Justice’s Jonathan Ross said the government is still funding the activities that are legally required, such as “know your rights” clinics.
He said those clinics may still offer their services pro bono.
