FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 19, 2025

CONTACT: Melissa Stek, media@vera.org

WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, legal service providers across the country received a stop work order from the Trump administration mandating that their offices immediately halt services under the Unaccompanied Children Program, a program under the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that provides legal representation and orientation services in immigration court to unaccompanied children in need of protection. These services are provided consistent with protections under the Trafficking and Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the Flores Settlement Agreement, and the ORR Foundational Rule, which govern the treatment of immigrant children held in government custody.

Shayna Kessler and Nicole Melaku, co-leaders of the Fairness to Freedom campaign for universal representation, issued the following statements:

Said Shayna Kessler, director, Advancing Universal Representation initiative, Vera Institute of Justice: “These legal services are a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable among us—children held in government custody without their parents or caregivers. The Unaccompanied Children Program helps reunite children with safe caregivers, access legal protections available to trafficking and abuse survivors, assert their rights in court, and navigate complex immigration proceedings with the support of child-centered advocates. This reckless order from the administration upends due process and undermines the federal government’s longstanding, bipartisan commitment to protecting children by ensuring they are fairly represented in consequential court decisions. We call on Congress to immediately act to restore these programs, to pass the Fairness to Freedom Act, which would guarantee a right to counsel for all unaccompanied children facing deportation, and to conduct oversight hearings on how this stop work order undermines existing safeguards guaranteed to children under the TVPRA and other legal protections.”

Said Nicole Melaku, executive director, National Partnership for New Americans: “Forcing children to stand alone before a judge is a new level of cruelty that should be decried not only by advocates, but all members of Congress. Across administrations and party lines, policymakers have long supported legal service programs that ensure fair representation of vulnerable children in government custody. Denying unaccompanied minors this lifeline will result in children returned to dangerous circumstances. No child should face the immigration system alone. It is shameful that the most vulnerable in the immigration system would not have a fair chance to remain with their caregivers and ultimately be reunited with their families. Children with lawyers attend their court hearings with a legal advocate by their side, are able to assert their rights, and can live and thrive in safety. We call on Congress to do everything in its power to keep these life-saving programs intact.”

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Fairness to Freedom: The Campaign for Universal Representation was launched by the National Partnership for New Americans and the Vera Institute of Justice in April 2022 with a coalition of over 200 organizations and legal service providers. The campaign’s goal is to support the passage of the Fairness to Freedom Act to establish a federal right to representation for all immigrants facing deportation.