Burke Law Group Rejects $150 Million Migrant Children Contract, Extending Court Representation Uncertainty
Updated
Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 11
Burke Law Group Rejects $150 Million Migrant Children Contract, Extending Court Representation Uncertainty
3 articles · Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 11
Summary
$150 million in planned federal legal work for unaccompanied migrant children fell through after Burke Law Group said it declined to apply and was not awarded any grant.
The collapse leaves the administration without a clear long-term replacement after a nationwide contract covering nearly 100 child-advocacy providers expired at the end of July.
About 1,800 children remain in shelters and roughly 22,000 in deportation proceedings live with sponsors, while a separate $20 million stopgap deal with USCRI runs only through December.
That interim handoff has already disrupted immigration courts, with USCRI lawyers appearing for children they had not yet met as former providers argued representation cannot be transferred overnight.
A California judge on Aug. 6 ordered the government to pay lapsed providers, and Acacia Center for Justice said they have now received six of nine months of back pay.