Trump administration awards massive migrant child contract to Texas firm
- The Trump administration awarded a $150 million contract to Burke Law Group, a small Texas firm, to represent approximately 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children.
- This new contract follows the administration’s termination of a nearly two-decade-long agreement with the Unaccompanied Children Program, administered by the Acacia Center for Justice.
- Concerns have been raised about Burke Law Group’s founder, Marcella Burke, a Trump administration official, and the firm’s limited apparent experience in immigration law or with unaccompanied minors.
- Acacia Center for Justice declined a new contract due to a stipulation requiring legal service providers to turn over confidential client information, which they feared could be used for deportation.
- Advocates express fears that these actions are part of an accelerated effort by the Trump administration to expedite deportations and encourage self-deportation among vulnerable children, leaving 20,000 children without legal representation.
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