Senate Democrats Sound Alarm On Trump Administration Attacks On Unaccompanied Children’s Legal Representation

Senate Democrats Sound Alarm On Trump Administration Attacks On Unaccompanied Children's Legal Representation

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) sounded the alarm on the Trump Administration's unprecedented attacks on legal services for unaccompanied children, requesting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General (IG) conduct a full investigation into the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) process for entering into agreements for legal services and how it plans to ensure children are adequately represented.

In a letter to the HHS Inspector General, the Senators wrote: "On July 31, 2026, after a year and a half of repeated attempts to gut legal services for unaccompanied children, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) allowed contracts for the provision of these services to expire. The agency appeared to have no clear plan to ensure that the over 25,000 children impacted by this expiration would have lawyers in their deportation proceedings. Instead, ORR has since hastily attempted to award contracts for legal services to political allies of the Trump Administration with few, if any, qualifications to provide such services-all amid a push by the Administration to deport these children. In addition, ORR appears to have provided sensitive personal information about children to new representation without any consultation with current counsel or the children themselves. This has led to a full blown crisis for vulnerable children, who should not have to represent themselves in deportation proceedings. We write to request that you immediately initiate an investigation into whether funds appropriated for legal services to unaccompanied children have been implemented in a manner that meets ORR's legal obligations."

The Senators continued: "Congress has, on a bipartisan basis, made clear that unaccompanied children should not be forced to represent themselves in immigration court... Despite these statutory protections, ORR has nevertheless taken drastic steps to gut legal representation for children."

The Senators then cite troubling reports of contracts with longstanding legal service providers expiring, current providers remaining in the dark, and new problematic contacts like those to Burke Law Group and Our Rescue.

The Senators concluded, before requesting a formal investigation by the HHS Inspector General: "ORR's collective actions seem designed to deprive unaccompanied children of adequate representation in deportation proceedings. Attempts by the Administration to expedite the deportation of these children by limiting their access to immigration counsel deserves urgent oversight. We request that the Office of the Inspector General launch an immediate and thorough investigation into ORR's actions, including whether appropriate procurement processes and applicable laws have been followed."

For a PDF of the letter to Inspector General Bell, click here.

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