Federal judge orders Trump administration to restore legal aid for undocumented children

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to immigrant rights groups who sued the Trump administration after the government said it was going to take away legal funding that was set aside for undocumented children.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, a Joe Biden appointee, wrote in her 28-page order Tuesday that preliminary relief was appropriate because the plaintiffs — Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, Immigrant Defenders Law Center and the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, all organizations that represent undocumented children — had suffered irreparable harm.

“Here, plaintiffs have shown that they are likely to suffer, if not already suffering, irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief. The government’s termination of funding has impacted plaintiffs, forcing them to issue layoff notices and threatening to require them to dismiss their specialized and seasoned attorneys,” Martinez-Olguin wrote.

The plaintiffs said that in March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Department of the Interior abruptly, and with no explanation, terminated the contract that enabled the plaintiffs and their sister legal service providers to provide critical services to thousands of unaccompanied children nationwide.

Martinez-Olguin granted the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order on April 1, writing then that the Trump administration’s plan to take away the funding raised serious concerns that the government was violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.

That act says that the government is required to ensure unaccompanied immigrant minors receive counsel in immigration court

“As the court noted in its standing analysis, the cancellation order prevents plaintiffs from providing thousands of unaccompanied children with the direct representation required by the TVPRA and the Foundational Rule, frustrating plaintiffs’ missions of ensuring unaccompanied children are supported by legal counsel,” Martinez-Olguin wrote. “Given these harms, the plaintiff organizations ‘have established a likelihood of irreparable harm’ based on their showing of serious ‘ongoing harms to their organizational missions, including diversion of resources and the non-speculative loss of substantial funding.”

Martinez-Olguin also wrote that injunctive relief was in the public’s best interest as well as the plaintiffs because unaccompanied children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement can suffer from “substantial harm” without access to legal services

“One group of amici, including civil rights legal organizations that represent detained immigrant children, details the important role that direct legal service providers play in recognizing and combating the potential mistreatment of unaccompanied children in ORR custody,” Martinez-Olguin wrote.

“Another group of amici, former HHS officials, warns that unaccompanied children lacking counsel face greater risk of exploitation and human trafficking. Such harms weigh in favor of injunctive relief. The government avers that it would suffer harm where executive branch authority is hindered,  but the government cites no authority that this is a factor properly considered," the judge added.

Martinez-Olguin wrote that the government must restore the legal funding and the injunction will apply nationwide.

“The government’s cancellation order had nationwide effect; the relief necessary to remedy the termination is for the court to set aside that termination and require the government to comply with its statutory and regulatory obligations. Therefore, the relief granted by the court must reach nationwide,” she wrote.

Counsel for the plaintiffs did not comment before this story was published. Counsel for the government also did not comment.