The Trump administration has reached out to Texas for assistance in providing legal services to illegal immigrant children in their deportation cases. The request was made to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, which provides legal aid to low-income Texans.

Background

The request comes as the Trump administration seeks to end protections for illegal immigrant children on multiple fronts, including threatening to terminate the existing federally-mandated contract for legal assistance to minors facing deportation.

The Texas Indigent Defense Commission’s executive director, Scott Ehlers, stated that he did not believe that immigration defense for children was legal under his organization’s mandate, which was created explicitly for criminal defense over a decade ago.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed that officials with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement asked for the Texas Attorney General’s office assistance in representing illegal immigrant children, but they believed they could not do so, which is why they recommended the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to take on the project.

Concerns and Implications

Lawyers and advocates are concerned that the administration’s calls to Texas suggest a broader effort to transfer unaccompanied minors to the state, from where it is easier to quickly deport them. They worry that this could lead to a lack of independent oversight of facilities and separate children from the attorneys with whom they have built trust.

The temporary contract with the Acacia Center, a national nonprofit that provides legal services to illegal immigrant children, is set to end on July 31. The administration is required to provide the organization with weeks of notice for how to transition the ongoing legal cases of children, but it has not yet done so.

Original reporting: Texas Tribune (HLL/CB) — read the source article.