Protect Legal Funding for Unaccompanied Children

The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to deny tens of thousands of unaccompanied children legal counsel so they can be quickly deported. The administration has refused to pay legal service providers for the counsel they have provided to over 20,000 unaccompanied children this year. The contract for the Unaccompanied Children Program is set to expire on July 31, 2026, as the government currently has no plans to extend or transition services. If the Unaccompanied Children Program is defunded, thousands of children will be forced to go to court alone and face deportation to the very countries they fled. Studies show immigration judges are nearly 100 times less likely to grant relief to a child without counsel. Unaccompanied children have often fled violence, trafficking, persecution, and abuse. The administration’s actions fly in the face of decades of bipartisan cooperation and work to ensure unaccompanied children have child-friendly legal representatives protecting their legal rights and interests. I urge you to call on the administration to pay what is owed and renew the Unaccompanied Children Program contract.