Estrella del Paso on Friday shut down its Unaccompanied Children’s Program, leaving even more migrant children without legal representation after the Trump administration failed to reimburse it for services rendered, and is allowing a contract with legal service providers to end.
“Without payment from the federal government, we simply can’t operate this program,” Melissa M. Lopez, executive director of Estrella del Paso, said in a video statement. “Unaccompanied children have a right to legal services and representation under U.S. law. The federal government agreed to this contract and is now refusing to pay what they owe.”
Estrella del Paso is among nearly 100 legal groups across the country that provide services to roughly 20,000 children under a federal contract. Funds for the program have been appropriated by Congress for nearly two decades.
President Donald Trump’s administration allowed the contract to end Friday while still owing organizations more than $65 million – including $1 million to Estrella del Paso for services that have already been provided. That number will increase after July invoices are submitted, Estrella del Paso said in a news release.
The organization, a program under the El Paso Catholic Diocese formerly known as Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, laid off 13 employees Friday.
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A federal judge in Oakland, California, is hearing a request from the legal services providers to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for violating her earlier ruling that blocked an effort to defund the program. The Trump administration disputes the allegation. The next hearing is set for Aug. 6.
The organizations say that the Trump administration has been withholding payments as it demands detailed information from the providers about their clients that the providers say they have never been asked for before and that they ethically cannot provide.
“Let me be clear when I say that we will not breach our legal or ethical obligations as attorneys by disclosing confidential information,” Lopez said in the video.
The move comes as the Trump administration has redoubled its efforts to achieve its policy of mass deportations, and after migrant children have become a target for removal from the country.
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Estrella del Paso, which currently represents more than 240 migrant children, is asking for the public’s help to ensure it can continue to provide services to them.
“We have an ethical, legal and moral obligation to continue representing these children, and with or without money from the federal government, we must do that,” Lopez said. “We need your help to make sure that we can keep our doors open and continue to see through on our responsibility to these children.”
Unaccompanied children are those who enter the United States without a parent or guardian – though others have been deemed unaccompanied when they’re separated from parents or guardians who are detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
“Many of these children are survivors of trafficking, violence, and persecution and they have a legal right to legal services and legal representation under U.S. law,” Lopez said.
“Without a lawyer, children win the right to stay less than 1% of the time.”
As part of the expiring contract, the legal groups can enter government-funded shelters and give presentations to children about their legal rights, and directly represent the children as they go through immigration court proceedings.
But as that contract ends, the providers say it’s unclear what will happen come Monday or whether they’ll be able to visit their clients in the shelters where they live.
“We have no understanding of what’s going to happen to those children come next week. We don’t know if they’re going to have legal representation. The government as of yet has not identified who will take over this representation,” Lopez said during a news conference earlier this week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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