AUSTIN, Texas — The federal government plans to award the Burke Law Group contract valued at $150 million to represent unaccompanied immigrant children in federal custody during immigration proceedings, according to a notice scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Thursday.
Federal law has long required protections for minors in the country without guardians, amid concerns about exploitation, abuse, and trafficking. Advocates note that some children are too young to speak, and without proper legal assistance are highly likely to be deported.
The Houston-based firm Burke Law Group describes its core work as advising companies on complex environmental, regulatory, and enforcement matters. Of its 24 attorneys, two focus on immigration and asylum cases, according to the firm’s website.
“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,” said Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, which has provided legal services to unaccompanied minors.
Burke Law Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Department of Health and Human Services, the awarding agency, also did not respond.
The proposed award follows the expiration Friday of a contract with a coalition of nearly 100 legal nonprofits performing similar work. The Trump administration stopped reimbursing those groups in November after attorneys declined to share confidential information about the children, according to the organizations.
Michael Lukens, executive director of Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, told reporters Wednesday that the requested information was protected by attorney-client privilege. “HHS’s insistence on this data — I truly believe that whoever signs contracts with HHS is going to agree in their contract to turn over this data,” he said.
The lawyers say the government owes them $65 million, and there is an ongoing lawsuit over the dispute.
Ties to the Trump administration
Co-founder Marcella Burke served in the first Trump administration at the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. Founding partner Jeffrey Hall currently serves as an assistant administrator at the EPA.
During Hall’s confirmation hearing, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., raised concerns about the appointment. In an opening statement, Whitehouse said Hall’s prior work sought to limit EPA authority under the Clean Air Act and weaken greenhouse gas regulations.
The EPA did not respond to a request for comment regarding Hall.
Immigrant-rights advocates are questioning the Department of Health and Human Services’ plan to award the Burke Law Group contract. A nonprofit that previously represented minors said the agreement would cover roughly 1,800 children in shelters.
What happens to nearly 22,000 children who are not in HHS shelters remains unclear. Lukens said “technically nobody in the country has a contract with HHS to provide services to kids.”
The proposed deal with Burke Law Group is slated to begin on Aug. 15, creating a two-week gap. Lukens said his organization and other nonprofits continue to provide legal services because of their mission and ethical obligations, and will do so for free for now as resources allow.
Acacia Center for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that held the contract through July 31, said in a statement that any successor “must have the deep experience required to navigate our country’s complex immigration system and the training to work with vulnerable children, many of whom fled violence, trafficking, and abuse to come to this country.”
Burke Law Group contract
The Burke Law Group contract has drawn scrutiny from advocates who question the firm’s immigration expertise and the scope of services it would provide relative to the need. The Department of Health and Human Services has not addressed those concerns publicly.