TRO requires US to continue funding immigration court lawyers for children entering country without parent
Unaccompanied migrant children await processing in a Department of Homeland Security holding facility in Donna, Texas, in 2021. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday that blocks a cutoff in federal funding for representation in immigration court for minors who enter the United States without a parent or legal guardians.
In an April 1 order, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California barred termination of congressionally appropriated funding while she considers a request for a preliminary injunction.
Eleven nonprofit legal services providers that filed the lawsuit receive government funding through the nonprofit Acacia Center for Justice. They sued after the Acacia Center for Justice received a notice March 21 that the government would no longer fund lawyers for unaccompanied children in immigration court and that the work should stop immediately.
The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Hill, ABC News and NPR have stories.
The March 26 suit said the federal government is required to ensure legal representation for unaccompanied children “to the greatest extent practicable” under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.
Martínez-Olguín cited the law in her order.
“Terminating funding for direct legal representation for unaccompanied children, without any plan to ensure continuity in representation, potentially violates Congress’ express directive” in the act, she said.
The case is Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
See also:
ABA responds to federal cuts to legal services for unaccompanied children
Behind the scenes as the ABA reacts to DOJ’s order to stop providing legal support to immigrants
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
