The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a contract worth up to $150 million annually to a small Texas law firm to provide legal services for unaccompanied migrant children in immigration proceedings, replacing a nationwide network of nonprofit organizations that had represented more than 20,000 children.
Under the agreement, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) selected Houston-based Burke Law Group to provide legal orientation, legal consultations and attorney-of-record representation for eligible children through August 2027.
The firm has 26 employees across eight offices and describes itself as a boutique practice focused on "high-stakes litigation, environmental, regulatory, and corporate matters," as per a POLITICO review of the firm's site. The same review also shows none of its attorneys list immigration law as a primary practice area, though NPR reported two attorneys identify immigration and asylum work among their specialties.
The contract replaces one previously administered by the Acacia Center for Justice through a network of roughly 90 nonprofit legal organizations, including Kids in Need of Defense, which together represented nearly 20,000 children in ORR custody. The agreement expired July 31 after months of disputes between the Trump administration and the nonprofit providers.
Federal law requires the government to facilitate access to legal counsel for children who arrive in the United States without a parent or legal guardian. Earlier this year, the administration withheld payments to nonprofit providers after requesting information about their clients that the organizations said was protected by attorney-client privilege.
The providers say the government still owes them approximately $65 million for legal work performed since last November, and litigation over the funding remains ongoing.
NPR also reported that Burke Law Group includes attorneys with ties to the Trump administration as Co-founder Marcella Burke previously served in the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency during Trump's first term, while founding partner Jeffrey Hall currently serves as an assistant administrator at the EPA.
Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project questioned the firm's selection and its ability to assume responsibility for such a large caseload in comments to NPR:
"Instead of taking care of these children, the government is instead implementing things such as awarding a contract to a private small law firm in Texas with no discernible experience in relevant immigration law or child welfare"
The contract comes days after advocates warned that more than 24,000 unaccompanied children could lose access to federally funded legal representation following the expiration of the previous agreement. Several nonprofit organizations said they would continue representing children without federal reimbursement while seeking a long-term resolution.
