Legal services for unaccompanied migrant children still uncertain after judge orders reinstatement

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Legal services for unaccompanied migrant children still uncertain after judge orders reinstatement

2025-04-03 05:17 Last Updated At：05:20

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Legal aid clinics that sued the Trump administration after it canceled legal services for migrant children alone in the country say they are still in limbo a day after a federal judge in California ordered the reinstatement of direct legal assistance.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of San Francisco ruled late Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by legal aid groups after the Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement on March 21 terminated a contract with the Acacia Center for Justice.

She wrote that advocates raised legitimate questions about whether the U.S. violated a 2008 anti-trafficking law when it canceled funding for direct legal representation without ensuring the provision of counsel prior to the cancellation, warranting a return to the status quo while the case continues. The order took effect Wednesday and runs through April 16.

“The Court additionally finds that the continued funding of legal representation for unaccompanied children promotes efficiency and fairness within the immigration system,” she wrote.

But aid providers said Wednesday they are not sure if they can expect federal dollars to begin flowing again.

The Acacia center provides legal services for unaccompanied migrant children under 18 through a network of legal aid groups that subcontract with the center. Eleven subcontractor groups sued, saying that 26,000 children were at risk of losing their attorneys and that the government has an obligation to come up with a plan for transferring pending cases.

Acacia is not a party to the lawsuit, but Bilal Askaryar, a spokesperson, said Wednesday that it has received no notice from the government on what to do next.

“We’re still stuck in this impossible situation where the attorneys that work with these vulnerable kids have no clarity," he said.

Alvaro M. Huerta, an attorney with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said they are waiting to hear from the government on how it intends to comply with the order. Meanwhile, legal aid providers do not know if they can rehire staff or take on new clients, he said.

“Many organizations continue to represent children in court given their ethical and professional obligations, even without getting government funding to do so,” he said.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 created special protections for migrant children who cannot navigate a complex immigration system on their own. Plaintiffs said some of their clients are too young to speak and others are too traumatized and do not know English.

The law requires the government to ensure “to the greatest extent practicable” that all children entering the country alone have legal counsel to represent them in proceedings and to “protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking.”

Attorneys for the government say that taxpayers have no obligation to pay the cost of direct legal aid to migrant children at a time when the government is trying to save money. They also said district courts have no jurisdiction over a contract termination that would have expired at the end of March.

Acacia is still under contract with the government to provide legal orientations, including “know your rights” clinics, which Jonathan Ross with the U.S. Department of Justice said at a court hearing Tuesday is legally required.

“They’re still free to provide those services on a pro bono basis,” he said of the legal aid clinics.

But Karen Tumlin with the Justice Action Center said at the same hearing that the administration cannot simply zero out funding without providing direction on who will help these children when Congress has appropriated money for the care of unaccompanied minors.

“They need to make sure to the greatest extent practicable that there is a plan,” she said.

The temporary order by Martínez-Olguín, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, prohibits the government from withdrawing services or funds Congress had appropriated for such children.

The legal services contract, which was set to expire unless renewed in March, was worth $200 million, which is a fraction of the overall $5 billion Congress appropriated for overall unaccompanied migrant children services, including housing or shelter.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in an email it does not comment on ongoing litigation.

This is the third legal setback in less than a week for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, though all may prove temporary as the lawsuits advance.

On Friday, a federal judge in Boston said people with final deportation orders must have a “ meaningful opportunity ” to argue against being sent to a country other than their own. On Monday, another federal judge in San Francisco put on hold plans to end protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans. __ This story has been updated to clarify that legal aid for minors is a $200 million piece of $5 billion appropriated by Congress to assist unaccompanied children and to correct that Acacia is under a modified contract with the federal government, not a new contract.

A week after catastrophic earthquake, focus turns to a growing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar

2025-04-05 00:17 Last Updated At：00:22

BANGKOK (AP) — Search teams in Myanmar recovered more bodies from the ruins of buildings on Friday, a week after a massive earthquake killed more than 3,300 people, as the focus turns toward the urgent humanitarian needs in a country already devastated by a continuing civil war.

United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who is also the emergency relief coordinator, arrived Friday in Myanmar in an effort to spur action following the March 28 quake.

Ahead of the visit, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community to immediately step up funding for quake victims “to match the scale of this crisis,” and he urged unimpeded access to reach those in need.

“The earthquake has supercharged the suffering with the monsoon season just around the corner,” he said.

Myanmar's military and several key armed resistance groups have all declared ceasefires in the wake of the earthquake to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid.

But the U.N.'s Human Rights Office on Friday accused the military of continuing attacks, claiming there were more than 60 attacks after the earthquake, including 16 since the military announced a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday.

“I urge a halt to all military operations, and for the focus to be on assisting those impacted by the quake, as well as ensuring unhindered access to humanitarian organizations that are ready to support,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said. “I hope this terrible tragedy can be a turning point for the country towards an inclusive political solution.”

Announcing its ceasefire, the military also said it would still take “necessary” measures against resistance groups, if they use the ceasefire to regroup, train or launch attacks, and the groups have said they reserved the right to defend themselves.

Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into a civil war.

The quake worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis, with more than 3 million people displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of the military government, said the quake's death toll has reached 3,301, with 4,792 injured and about 221 missing, according to a report on state television MRTV. He is in Bangkok attending a summit meeting of leaders from the Bay of Bengal region.

It is a rare visit for the general, who usually restricts his few foreign trips to allies Russia and China. He and his government are shunned and sanctioned by Western nations for usurping power and their alleged human rights violations in repressing opposition and carrying out a brutal war.

Britain, which had already given $13 million to purchase emergency items like food, water and shelter, pledged an additional $6.5 million in funds to match an appeal from Myanmar's Disasters Emergency Committee, according to the U.K. Embassy in Yangon.

The World Food Program said so far it has reached 24,000 survivors, but was scaling up its efforts to assist 850,000 with food and cash assistance for one month.

Many international search and rescue teams are now on the scene, and eight medical crews from China, Thailand, Japan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Russia were operating in Naypyitaw, according to Myanmar's military-run government. Another five teams from India, Russia, Laos and Nepal and Singapore were helping in the Mandalay region, while teams from Russia, Malaysia and the ASEAN bloc of nations were assisting in the Sagaing region.

The Trump administration has pledged $2 million in emergency aid and sent a three-person team to assess how best to respond given drastic cuts to U.S. foreign assistance.

On Friday, five bodies were recovered from the rubble in the capital Naypyitaw and the second-largest city of Mandalay, near the epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake March 28, authorities said. The last reported rescue came Wednesday, some 125 hours after the quake struck, when a man was saved from the wreckage of a hotel in Mandalay.

The quake also shook neighboring Thailand, bringing down a high-rise under construction in Bangkok, where recovery work continued Friday. Overall, 22 people have been found dead and 35 injured in Bangkok, primarily from the construction site.

Associated Press Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.