Padilla, Murphy, Democratic Colleagues Demand Answers from HHS Secretary RFK Jr. on Potential $150M Contract Award to Trump-Aligned Law Firm to Represent Unaccompanied Children[...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and 14 of their Democratic colleagues demanded answers from the Trump Administration on its intent to award a no-bid contract to a Trump-aligned law firm with no apparent immigration law experience, allowing them to represent unaccompanied children who are in the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

"Given the political connections between the firm's senior leadership and the Trump Administration, we have concerns about why you sidestepped the competitive bidding process to select this firm to provide legal services for children who are in ORR care and custody, and demand transparency into whether all federal procurement processes were followed," wrote the Senators. "Children deserve competent representation by attorneys who practice at the intersection of child welfare and federal immigration law, but Americans also deserve to know why their federal dollars are being doled out to Trump's friends and allies."

The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), through ORR, has an obligation to ensure that unaccompanied children are provided competent legal aid as they navigate the immigration process. Despite this, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has cut legal services funding for 26,000 unaccompanied children, potentially shifting funding to the Trump-aligned Burke Law Group, despite the firm's lack of experience protecting the rights of immigrant children.

"The firm appears to have little relevant experience with the legal and practical challenges that children face, raising serious concerns about the firm's ability to provide not just representation but adequate, zealous representation," wrote the Senators. "Within hours of the notice in the Federal Register, the firm appears to have updated their website to include content about immigrant youth that didn't exist on the website the previous day. At best, this is concerning, and at worst, it is a part of a coordinated scheme to paper over the firm's lack of experience."

Burke Law Group's inexperience in the complexities of immigration law could result in serious harm for the nearly 2,000 children in ORR's care. The firm employs just 26 people in total, adding an additional concern about the firm's capacity to provide adequate legal representation to vulnerable children, some of whom are victims of trafficking or other abuse, let alone its competency to do so. Instead, the only clear outcome of this contracting award is that another Trump-aligned business will receive millions from the Trump Administration.

In the letter, the Senators demanded that Secretary Kennedy provide transparency as to why the Burke Law Group received this contract and details about the firm's plans to provide legal assistance to unaccompanied children.

In addition to Padilla and Murphy, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Secretary Kennedy,

We are alarmed by the recent news that the Trump administration intends to award $150 million to a Houston law firm with close ties to President Trump and no apparent expertise in immigration law, to provide legal representation to unaccompanied children. Given the political connections between the firm's senior leadership and the Trump administration, we have concerns about why you sidestepped the competitive bidding process to select this firm to provide legal services for children who are in the Office of Refugee Resettlement's care and custody, and demand transparency into whether all federal procurement processes were followed. Children deserve competent representation by attorneys who practice at the intersection of child welfare and federal immigration law, but Americans also deserve to know why their federal dollars are being doled out to Trump's friends and allies.

Most Americans agree children should not be forced to navigate the complex immigration process without adequate counsel, and Congress has enacted several provisions and funded counsel for these children for many years. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) directs the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), to "ensure, to the greatest extent practicable . . . that all unaccompanied alien children . . . have counsel to represent them in legal proceedings or matters and protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking." Recently, ORR moved to withhold funding from over 100 legal services providers that had provided counsel to children for decades, which essentially cut off all funding for representation of approximately 26,000 unaccompanied children currently navigating the immigration court process. Yet, seemingly overnight, ORR bypassed the competitive bidding process entirely, awarding the Burke Law Group ("theDear …, firm") a one-year single-source cooperative agreement. We are awaiting final details, but the new agreement appears to cover around 1,800 children currently in ORR custody.

The firm appears to have little relevant experience with the legal and practical challenges that children face, raising serious concerns about the firm's ability to provide not just representation but adequate, zealous representation. Within hours of the notice in the Federal Register, the firm appears to have updated their website to include content about immigrant youth that didn't exist on the website the previous day. At best, this is concerning, and at worst, it is a part of a coordinated scheme to paper over the firm's lack of experience. Furthermore, the firm's senior leadership has political ties to the Trump administration. One of the founders of the firm was a Trump appointee - to an agency with no involvement in either child welfare or immigration law - and still another founding partner now serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and has a questionable connection to harms perpetuated against detainees at immigration detention centers.

Consistent with the TVPRA, Congress has funded, and ORR administered, robust legal services to unaccompanied children under past Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Counsel for children should have at a bare minimum, experience and knowledge of the complex laws, policies, and dynamics of the intersection of immigration and child welfare law. Beyond the professional duty of legal competence, there is long-standing concern about adequate representation by qualified counsel for this vulnerable population, which is why Congress authorized and funded the program originally. HHS has yet to clarify how a 26-person Houston-based law firm will be able to adequately satisfy the TVPRA's mandate to provide representation for unaccompanied children in ORR's care and custody.

For these reasons and our deep concern regarding the treatment and protection of unaccompanied children, we call for an independent, timely, transparent, and public investigation at both the state and federal level into this award, with the full cooperation of ORR and HHS. We request the following information and responses to questions by August 25, 2026.

Please provide:

1. Names of all legal services providers considered for this cooperative agreement. Please include the type of provider (e.g., law firm, nonprofit) and their qualifications.
2. A copy of the firm's application for the award.
3. A copy of the cooperative agreement and justification for single-source funding.
4. All communications between employees of the firm and agency personnel at ORR and HHS.
5. Copies of the merits determination for this agreement and the compliance justification for why the agreement is in line with the grants policy agreement.

Questions:

1. Nothing in this agreement discusses how children who were already represented will be supported by the firm or how such children will be transferred to attorneys of the firm.
   1. What is the firm's plan to ensure adequate continuity, experience, and knowledge in taking these cases, including its anticipated case-per-attorney ratio?
   2. What, if any, subcontractors will the firm employ or plan to employ to handle the workload?
   3. Describe the firm's coordination, if any, with the supplemental cooperative agreement awardee, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
2. There are currently only two attorneys at the firm listed as having any immigration experience. How is the cooperative agreement expected to ensure proper legal representation of approximately 1,800 children in ORR custody?
3. Will firm attorneys be required to convey a represented child's sensitive personal information, or information of the represented child's family members or prospective sponsors, to ORR or DHS without specific and credible reason to believe such information-sharing is in the best interest of the represented child?
   1. Please explain what the firm is expected to share with ORR or HHS, including who will have access to such information, the cadence by which that information will be shared, and the purpose of such information-sharing.
   2. Please also explain how the firm will be in compliance with ABA Model Rule 1.6 and Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct 1.05 and 1.06, involving a client's informed consent.
4. How will this firm be handling 'Know Your Rights' presentations and legal consultations? How will they be providing these services to children not in Texas? Please clarify whether these services will be provided in-person or virtually.

Sincerely,

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