A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order April 1 requiring the Trump administration to resume funding legal services for unaccompanied minors with cases in immigration court.
This on-again, off-again drama has taken multiple turns in the past month, including President Donald Trump’s verbal assaults on the judges and judicial system seeking to hold him accountable to federal law.
Araceli Martinez-Olguin
In the latest salvo, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in San Francisco said legal aid groups representing those children make a strong case that the sudden elimination of $200 million from the Unaccompanied Children Program violates a 2008 federal anti-trafficking law and other federal rules.
Those organizations also demonstrated direct economic hardship from the sudden termination of contracted funds, including having to issue layoff notices and facing the prospect of losing experienced attorneys, according to the restraining order that expires April 16.
“In sum, the balance of equities tips sharply toward the plaintiffs and the public interest strongly weighs in favor of entering temporary relief,” she wrote.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed March 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by more than a dozen legal groups. The action demands reinstatement of the funds needed to represent 26,000 minors facing hearings in federal immigration courts. Those children, including some as young as 1, would be forced to represent themselves without the program.
But the Associated Press reported the funds had yet to be released as of April 2, and another nonprofit confirmed money still was not flowing by the afternoon of April 3.
Bettina Rodriguez Schlegel
“We’re still stuck in this impossible situation where the attorneys that work with these vulnerable kids have no clarity,” a spokesman for the Acacia Center for Justice said in the AP report.
But even if or when the funds are released, the ruling represents only a temporary reprieve, said Bettina Rodriguez Schlegel, chief of staff of the Acacia Center, which contracted to distribute unaccompanied minor funds to nearly 90 other legal services providers.
“Funding for this vital program must be fully reinstated so we can ensure that vulnerable children seeking safety have the legal support they need,” Schlegel said.
Wendy Young
Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, urged the administration to rethink its position on permanent funding for the program because so much is at stake.
“This TRO is a welcome development that we hope signals restoration of vital federally funded legal representation for unaccompanied children,” she said. Its defunding “makes it all but impossible for many unaccompanied children to appear for their immigration court hearings or otherwise remain in touch with immigration agencies, severing critical lines of communication between children in harm’s way and the institutions in place to protect them.”
In Washington, D.C., U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, introduced legislation April 3 to guarantee legal assistance for unaccompanied migrant youth.
“Children cannot represent themselves in court — it’s that simple,” Hirono said. “Legal representation helps ensure unaccompanied minors in our court system get the fair hearing they’re entitled to and is critical to the function of immigration court proceedings.”
Mazie Hirono
In addition to seeking an end to legal aid for child migrants, the Trump administration also has been attacking attorneys.
In a March memo to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, President Trump ordered sanctions against law firms and attorneys who “engage in frivolous, unreasonable and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States.”
Trump condemns the “baseless partisan attacks” by his political opponents and takes special aim at attorneys leading the many immigration-related lawsuits against the administration, which he claims unlawfully attempt to deny the executive powers granted him by the U.S. Constitution.
“I further direct the attorney general to take all appropriate action to refer for disciplinary action any attorney whose conduct in federal court or before any component of the federal government appears to violate professional conduct rules, including rules governing meritorious claims and contentions, and particularly in cases that implicate national security, homeland security, public safety or election integrity,” he said.
Trump later issued an executive order directing Bondi to seek sanctions against specific law firms and lawyers he claimed were engaged in partisan cases or those that refuse to “accept the biological reality of sex” and back “the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders.”
The American Civil Liberties Union and two dozen other civil rights groups issued a joint statement blasting the administration for attempting to “chill dissent, avoid accountability and weaponize the government to attack opponents of this administration and its lawless actions.”
The letter cites a dozen memos targeting law firms and attorneys in addition to the president’s calling judges “corrupt,” prosecutors “deranged” and his courtroom opponents “scum.”
The groups condemned the administration’s efforts as “a dangerous tactic seeking to prevent the legal system from operating as an independent check on government authority. These actions place the continuing viability of our democracy at risk and should alarm the public.”
Democracy Forward joined with the conservative Society for the Rule of Law Institute and other legal groups in a cross-ideological coalition to craft an open letter imploring Bondi to cease political actions against attorneys and law firms.
“We write to you, as the nation’s highest ranking legal official, out of deep concern regarding a number of actions that the president of the United States and his administration have taken and a number of statements targeting lawyers and the legal profession,” the letter states.
The letter, signed by more than 4,000 individuals and groups, cites a dozen memos targeting law firms and attorneys in addition to the president’s calling judges “corrupt,” prosecutors “deranged” and his courtroom opponents “scum.”
“It is your responsibility, as the lawyer ultimately entrusted with the representation of the United States in legal matters, to oppose attacks on the legal profession, on judges and on the rule of law and to ensure that the Department of Justice uses its full power to protect the legal profession and equal justice under law for all people,” the groups state.
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network said it would stand with its legal services providers facing the administration’s dangerous actions.
“As legal service providers we reject these accusations and will not be intimidated from continuing to represent immigrant families with integrity and to the best of our ability,” CLINIC Executive Director Anna Gallagher said. “We will continue to support the CLINIC network and all our partners providing immigration legal services as they carry out their sacred work.”
Related articles:
Trump takes away legal representation for unaccompanied minor immigrants
Trump codifies ‘brazen attack on immigrant children’ as groups sue to stop him
Children fleeing alone need our compassion and protection | Opinion by Bri Stensrud