Legal organizations told to stop federally funded work for unaccompanied migrant children

The Trump administration has told organizations that provide legal representation from the federal government for children who are not accompanied by a service to stop service.

The Ministry of Interior sent an order that stopped to the non -profit ACACIA Center for Justice on Tuesday, which reduced the funding of “all activities” under the federal contract in Acacia to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrants under the age of 18, according to the text of the letter obtained by NBC News.

The Acacia Center works with a network of organizations throughout the country to provide legal assistance to migrants. She has a contract with the Refugee Resettlement Office to provide legal assistance to about 26,000 children across the border without their parents.

The center sent the center to “stop all services, arrange supplies” and notify contractors from the subcontractor “immediately” to issue an order to stop the work.

A spokesman for the Acacia Center said this step may lead to a fewer children from access to legal representation in the absence of federal financing. Any lawyers who represent these palace as lawyers will now have to work for free or to be paid through other sources.

Under American law, immigrants do not guarantee the right to free legal representation, because if they are accused of crimes. But federal funds allowed non -profit groups to provide lawyers for children, some of which are smaller than speaking, and who make their way through the immigration system without parents or parents.

“The order to stop the work is carried out due to reasons outside your control, and it should not be misunderstood as a sign of poor performance by your company.”

It is not clear why the latest work stopped, and the second that the Acacia Center has received in recent weeks. In January, the Ministry of Justice issued an order to stop work for four legal arrival programs for migrants run by the Akassia Center, but the Ministry of Justice filed it after the judge issued a temporary temporary and successful lawsuit from a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, which runs the federal contract, referred questions to the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services, which provides financing. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment or additional details about the reason for issuing the request.

I reached the comment, the Ministry of Justice did not respond to the registry. Despite the suspension of work, children who are not accompanied by their families are still able to obtain legal representation in removal procedures regardless of whether the legal services are funded federally.

“The administration’s decision to suspend this program undermine the due legal procedures, and does not affect incapable of vulnerable children, and puts children who have already suffered from a severe shock to the risk of further harm or exploitation. We are on Prepare to work with the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services to review these basic services and quickly regain them so that ACACIA and our partners can continue to support vulnerable children. “

the One of the subcontractors in the Akassia Center, a migrant rights center in Michigan, said in a statement“Stopping this funding will affect thousands of children and vulnerable families across the country, including more than 800 in MIRC.”