ABA concerned about U.S. government’s cutoff of legal services for unaccompanied children

CHICAGO — The American Bar Association has grave concerns about the decision made on March 21st to immediately end most of the government-funded legal services program for unaccompanied children. This program provides legal representation to more than 26,000 migrant children, who are in or have been released from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody. Providing services to these children helps them navigate complex immigration court proceedings and allows them to understand their legal options, while also protecting them from being trafficked, abused, or exploited in the United States.

As one of nearly 100 providers of legal services in this program, the ABA has been serving unaccompanied children through its immigration projects in Texas and California for decades and recognizes that access to legal assistance for these minors is more critical than ever. Without specialized children’s programs and attorneys, many of these kids —some as young as toddlers—will be forced to navigate adversarial immigration proceedings alone. Legal services providers help ensure that children’s immigration proceedings are fair and efficient, alleviating undue burdens on judges and prosecutors, while protecting children’s due process rights.

Abruptly ending the program today, without considering how children who are currently represented or how court proceedings will be impacted, is deeply troubling and could leave thousands of immigrant children—many of whom have already experienced severe trauma and violence—vulnerable to further harm.

We call on members of the legal profession to contact their elected officials to urge the administration to reinstate full funding for legal services for unaccompanied children and oppose any efforts that restrict access to legal services and information for these children.