Trump administration awards $150 million contract for migrant children legal aid

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Aug. 5 gave Burke Law Group a $150 million single-source cooperative agreement to represent unaccompanied migrant children, after the federal contract that funded legal services for the program expired July 31. The move sharpened concerns over both due process and political favoritism, because the Houston firm has ties to the Trump administration and a limited immigration practice.

The previous contract had supported legal services for more than 20,000 unaccompanied children, and more than 25,000 children were set to lose legal protections when it lapsed. The new agreement is scheduled to start Aug. 15 and run through Aug. 14, 2027. One report said it could cover representation for about 20,000 children, while another put the figure above 24,000.

Burke Law Group is a small Texas firm with 26 employees across eight offices, and only two attorneys who specialize in immigration and asylum cases. Marcella Burkey, one of the firm’s founders, was a former Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Jeffrey Hall, a former employee and founding partner, was recently appointed and confirmed to serve at the EPA.

Legal aid groups and child-advocacy organizations warned that the change could leave vulnerable minors without lawyers who know the immigration court system and how to work with children. Acacia Center for Justice said in an Aug. 5 statement, "Kids need lawyers who understand how to work with kids." The organization also said on July 21, "Abandoning Children to Meet Deportation Targets Is Immoral."

The program had provided legal help across administrations of both parties for nearly two decades, but advocates said the contract lapse and a stop-work order affecting federally funded legal service providers have already disrupted that system. Acacia and allied groups said more than $65 million had gone unpaid to lawyers and organizations supporting the work, leaving a gap just as children who cross the border alone face immigration cases without guaranteed counsel. The new contract is set to redirect that work to a firm with close political ties and little deep immigration specialization, intensifying scrutiny of who gets access to legal aid in immigration court.