The Trump Administration Isn’t Providing Legal Aid To Migrant Children In Temporary Shelter

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, the government agency that operates all shelters for migrant children, has confirmed it has not yet contracted with any legal aid providers to give the kids access to counsel. The children face deportation proceedings and are already getting court dates, according to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), which has stepped in to offer free legal counsel in the absence of a contract.

RAICES, a legal services and advocacy group that represents unaccompanied minors in 13 shelters throughout Texas, told HuffPost that the administration is violating its legal obligations to provide the children with lawyers and is putting them in danger. The group decided to send lawyers to the Carrizo Springs facility on Tuesday on a pro bono basis, and plans to visit weekly so that the children will not be taken advantage of and deported without access to legal aid.