Texas law firm gets $150M to represent 24,000 children in immigration court
Eric Bazail-Eimil for Politico reports that the Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a multimillion-dollar contract yesterday with a Texas law firm to represent unaccompanied minors in immigration court proceedings.
"Per a notice set to be officially published in the Federal Register on Thursday, but posted to the website Tuesday, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the division of HHS that oversees the well-being of unaccompanied minors, will award Burke Law Group, a Houston-based law firm, a contract worth up to $150 million a year." Thw law firm will “provide legal orientation, legal consultation, and attorney-of-record representation services for eligible unaccompanied alien children during immigration proceedings.”
The contract will run through August 2027. Until this Friday, the U.S. government had a contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, but allowed it to expire after withholding funds to Acacia and many of the nonprofits that served as “subcontractors” representing children.
