More than 25,000 children lose previous legal protections, as federal contract ends

Immigration More than 25,000 children lose previous legal protections, as federal contract ends August 1, 20266:00 AM ET Chiara Eisner Children wait outside of an immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on July 31, 2026 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America hide caption toggle caption Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America An estimated 26,000 children who entered the U.S. without parents or guardians are expected to be left without independent legal representation as soon as Monday, according to lawyers who help represent them. For more than two decades, the U.S. has been required by law to protect children who cross the border alone, because of fears that they could be easily exploited, abused or trafficked. After children cross the border unaccompanied, they are typically transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). A network of nearly 100 legal groups helps provide children who arrive in ORR custody with legal services, funded by Congress. Sponsor Message But in November, ORR stopped paying for those legal services, after lawyers refused to provide the agency with confidential information it had requested about the children. The attorneys say that information is covered by attorney-client privilege. Immigration Haitian TPS holders in South Florida brace for end of their legal status "The government is withholding payment for work that has already been performed in order to extract confidential information about kids, information the government has no right to," Acacia Center for Justice, the nonprofit that manages the legal services contract with ORR, said in a statement on Thursday. ORR refused to renew the contract with the network of legal providers, which expired Friday. Alexa Sendukas, an attorney at the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, one of the organizations that provides legal help to migrant children, said that come Monday, the children may have to represent themselves i...