The Trump administration is sabotaging a legal defense program for tens of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children, according to government documents and an internal letter from immigration lawyers sounding the alarm reviewed by The Lever.
As a result, the legal-aid program may soon fall into the hands of a for-profit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) technology contractor, an unprecedented move that would privatize critical legal services for some of the most vulnerable children in the country.
The vendor, which boasts of its artificial intelligence use, is allegedly working in partnership with a nonprofit cofounded by Microsoft and Hollywood actress and philanthropist Angelina Jolie to submit a bid for this new contract. The two outfits currently share a federal contract to provide social services and legal counseling for immigrant children following their release from government custody.
For nearly two decades, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has funded legal services for migrant children in the agency’s custody. An estimated 26,000 children are receiving legal aid through this program, dubbed the Unaccompanied Children Program. After a failed attempt earlier this year to eliminate the legal defense system, the Trump administration quietly floated a radical refashioning of the program in November.
According to Department of Health and Human Services procurement records reviewed by the Lever, the stipulations outlined in a new government contracting offer would force attorneys for immigrant children to share detailed information about their clients with the government, limit the lawyers’ resources, and encourage some critical legal services to be provided virtually, among other changes.
The contract proposal “severely degrades child-centered legal services, breaches children’s confidentiality by sharing their private information with the government, and prioritizes…
Auteur: Katya Schwenk
