A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to release about $65 million in unpaid fees to nonprofits that provided legal services to unaccompanied migrant children facing deportation.U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin on Thursday further ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to notify the court that the funds were released an hour after Friday’s deadline, which is 12 p.m. Pacific time.A spokesperson for the federal agency could not immediately be reached for comment. But in a previous response to The Times, the agency said it “has remained fully compliant with legal and regulatory obligations and does not act in any way that could dissuade a child from seeking appropriate legal relief.”It was the second time the judge had ordered the agency to comply with a preliminary injunction as part of an ongoing legal dispute with nonprofit providers over a federal contract that funds legal services for migrant children in U.S. custody. The contract expired July 31, affecting 90 nonprofit organizations and creating uncertainty for more than 24,000 unaccompanied minors across the U.S. who face losing legal representation.Alvaro M. Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a written statement that it was unclear how many children were harmed by the federal government’s actions.“While the government withheld funding in defiance of its obligations, children were left to face deportation proceedings alone, and some potentially returned to the very abuse, persecution, and danger they fled,” he said. “We will continue our zealous advocacy for every child and hold this administration accountable for every attempt to evade its obligation to provide legal representation.“Children’s rights are not optional,” Huerta added, “and neither is the government’s responsibility to protect children from abuse, trafficking, and unlawful return to harm.”The loss of the contract was further compounded by news this week that the Trump administration had awarded a $150-million contract to a small Texas law firm with ties to the administration to provide legal representation to unaccompanied migrant children — a move that advocates said could leave the children more vulnerable to deportation.Legal service groups say the move furthers what they describe as the government’s ongoing attack on immigrant children by escalating deportation efforts, pressing legal providers for children’s sensitive case records and limiting legal representation.“The fastest way to deport more children is to make sure fewer children have lawyers,” said Laura Flores-Perilla, staff attorney at California-based civil and human rights nonprofit Justice Action Center, in a written statement. “That is what is at stake here. Children need independent legal help to understand their rights, make their case, and seek protection. Today’s order requires the government to pay for services already provided, but thousands of children still face an uncertain future.”The dispute over the federal contract began in March 2025, when the Health and Human Services Department terminated the contract with the Washington-based Acacia Center for Justice. The nonprofit subcontracts with around 100 legal service providers nationwide that represent tens of thousands of unaccompanied children. The contract was up for renewal that same month.That prompted the center and a coalition of nonprofit legal providers to file a federal class-action lawsuit against the agency and the Trump administration, alleging they were in violation of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, a federal law enacted by Congress in 2008.The law ensures unaccompanied children have legal counsel to represent them in legal proceedings and to protect them from mistreatment, exploitation and trafficking.Since the law’s enactment, Congress has provided funding for the national program. In 2024, it set aside about $5 billion to fund the program through September 2027.In June 2025, a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the Acacia Center for Justice’s contract and continue to fund the program. The government appealed the ruling but lost. Since then, the contract has expired.Problems only worsened in November when the Trump administration stopped paying its invoices as it demanded that the Acacia Center and its subcontractors provide information about clients that legal service providers say violates attorney-client privilege.Attorneys for the federal government argued in court Thursday that they were asking for noncitizen registration numbers, billable hours and days of legal services, information they say is not confidential. Thursday’s ruling appeared to resolve that dispute. But it also raised new questions about whether the administration would ensure legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children.Judge Martinez-Olguin echoed those concerns in her ruling, noting that the new legal services agreements appeared to cover only a fraction of the services needed and failed to explain how compliance would be monitored.She ordered the government to file a report by Aug. 13 explaining how it is meeting its legal obligation to provide counsel for unaccompanied migrant children
