Overview
- The federal contract that paid a nationwide network of nearly 100 nonprofit child-immigration lawyers expired Friday, and HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement has not announced a replacement.
- Providers say the agency has withheld roughly $65 million in reimbursements and has pressed for client-level files that lawyers say are protected by attorney-client privilege.
- After months without payments, multiple nonprofits have cut staff, paused intakes, and closed programs, which advocates say will reduce access to trauma-informed counsel for children in shelters.
- A coalition of legal providers has filed a federal class-action suit and a hearing is set for August 6 to seek payment and to try to restore contract continuity.
- Federal law requires facilitating legal help for unaccompanied minors and advocates warn that without counsel children face much lower odds of winning relief, longer stays in custody, and higher deportation risk.