Legal groups that help migrant children say law enforcement visits were attempt at intimidation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizations that give legal assistance to children who came to the U.S. alone said agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Health and Human Services tried to enter their offices in what the groups described as part of a campaign to intimidate legal services providers.

Because of the special vulnerability of children, the U.S. government has historically provided legal help to migrant children who came to the U.S. without a parent or guardian. But the second Trump administration has attempted to cut funding to the network of non-governmental legal groups that provide legal help at the same time the administration has taken other steps that advocates say amounts to an attack on immigrant children.

Three organizations that provide legal aid to children said in news releases Friday that agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of ICE, and the Office of the Inspector General at U.S. Health and Human Services tried to gain access to their Washington D.C.-area offices, including Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Ayuda, and Kids in Need of Defense.

The inspector general’s office said in a statement that they generally don’t confirm nor deny the existence of ongoing investigations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed requests to the Justice Department which directed them to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which falls under Health and Human Services. That department did not respond to a request for comment.

Children’s legal aid groups allege intimidation

Michael Lukens, the head of Amica, said agents visited their offices Thursday asking for financial records related to their contract to provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children. They didn’t have a warrant or any paperwork to back up their demands and the organization turned them away, Lukens said.

“There was no reason to show up other than to intimidate us, which didn’t work,” said Lukens, who added that the legal service providers already regularly provide updates to the government on their work. Lukens said the law enforcement visits were part of months of “very quiet and strategic attacks” by the administration against immigrant children’s legal rights.

“If the kids don’t have attorneys it’s very unlikely they can fight their cases,” he said.

Critics of the Trump administration have raised concerns over wellness checks carried out by immigration officers at elementary schools, immigration officers showing up and detaining sponsors at reunification meetings with children, and newly required documentation that’s created a “paperwork barrier” and led to a recent lawsuit.

Wendy Young, president at KIND, said two agents with the HHS Office of Inspector General on Thursday knocked on the door of their office located in D.C. They did not have a warrant or subpoena, but they asked for access to financial records.

Paula Fitzgerald, the executive director at Ayuda, said two agents visited their office Wednesday morning and asked to see information on billing and invoices related to their legal services work with migrant children. Fitzgerald asked them to put their request in writing over email. They said they would get back to her and left.

These visits could have a chilling effect on legal service providers already financially strained under the Trump administration, said Young.

“I think there’s an overarching approach which is to harass and intimidate those organizations that are set up to provide services to this very vulnerable population because these are kids who cannot navigate the immigration system without the assistance of counsel,” Young said.

Justice Department targets fraudulent sponsors of migrant children

Both Young and Lukens said the visits came at the same time the Justice Department, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services held a news conference Thursday to announce cases against three Guatemalan nationals that they said underscores the dangers of improper vetting of sponsors in a program seeking to unite kids with relatives or family friends after they enter the U.S.

Officials at the press conference said they’re also investigating what officials call super-sponsors, who gained custody of more than three unrelated children, to determine whether the sponsors took the kids in fraudulently.

“It seems to be that the timing probably wasn’t coincidental,” Young said.

Just a month into the second Trump administration, it suspended the legal aid program for children with little explanation, only to reverse that decision a week later.

More recently, the legal aid groups say the government hasn’t paid money it owes them. KIND, which says it has represented 14,000 immigrant children and educated 70,000 more about their legal rights since the organization was founded, said in their news release that they’re currently owed $20 million for services already completed.

Legal protections for migrant kids date back to 2008

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008 created special protections for children who arrive in the U.S. without a parent or a legal guardian. It said the government should facilitate legal representation for the children put into deportation proceedings, though it did not mandate every child have a lawyer.

Unaccompanied children can request asylum, juvenile immigration status, or visas for victims of sexual exploitation. Most of the children don’t speak English and need interpreters.

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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas.