Trump Admin Orders Legal Groups Who Teach 'Know Your Rights' to Migrant Children to 'Stop All Work'

The Trump administration ordered legal services groups representing migrant children facing deportation to stop all work funded by the government on Tuesday.

The Acacia Center for Justice, which oversees the main federal contract in this area, said it received an order to "stop all work" related to the contract last Friday, CBS News reported.

Its executive director, Shaina Aber, said the organization has almost 100 subcontractors providing service to some 26,000 unaccompanied minors across the country. All are or were in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for housing children who entered the country unlawfully until they turn 18 or can be placed with a sponsor.

Aber detailed that the order immediately stops funding for activities like "know your rights" presentations, where unaccompanied minors learn whether they qualify for ways to stay in the country legally, including asylum and visas for abused, neglected or abandoned youth. She added that organizations might resort to their own funds to continue representing children in court, as they have ethical obligations toward them and can't abandon their cases. It's unclear how long they can do it for.

Lindsay Toczylowski, president of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said "the Trump administration is abandoning children for the sake of politics and leaving kids to fend for themselves against our complex immigration system."

It is not the first decision impacting unaccompanied children arriving in the U.S. CBS News recalled that officials at the Office of Refugee Resettlement tightened the vetting process for people seeking to sponsor minors out of its custody. Now all adults in households applying will need to submit fingerprints for background checks not just the prospective sponsors.

During Fiscal Year 2024 that ended in September, officials in Texas reported a total of 991,149 illegal crossings. More than 60,000 of those were classified as children that were travelling alone.

An unaccompanied minor is defined as a child under the age of 18 who has no lawful immigration status in the United States and, with respect to whom, there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States able to provide care and physical custody for the child.