The Trump administration is sabotaging a legal defense program for tens of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children, according to government documents and an internal letter from immigration lawyers sounding the alarm reviewed by The Lever. 

As a result, the legal-aid program may soon fall into the hands of a for-profit Immigration and Customs Enforcement technology contractor, an unprecedented move that would privatize critical legal services for some of the most vulnerable children in the country.

The vendor, which boasts of its artificial intelligence use, is allegedly working in partnership with a nonprofit cofounded by Microsoft and Hollywood actress and philanthropist Angelina Jolie to submit a bid for this new contract. The two outfits currently share a federal contract to provide social services and legal counseling for immigrant children following their release from government custody. 

For nearly two decades, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has funded legal services for migrant children in the agency’s custody. An estimated 26,000 children are receiving legal aid through this program, dubbed the Unaccompanied Children Program. After a failed attempt earlier this year to eliminate the legal defense system, the Trump administration quietly floated a radical refashioning of the program in November.

According to Department of Health and Human Services procurement records reviewed by The Lever, the stipulations outlined in a new government contracting offer would force attorneys for immigrant children to share detailed information about their clients with the government, limit the lawyers’ resources, and encourage some critical legal services to be provided virtually, among other changes.

The contract proposal “severely degrades child-centered legal services, breaches children’s confidentiality by sharing their private information with the government, and prioritizes efficiency and cost saving over the safety and well-being of kids,” said Michael Lukens, the executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, a legal advocacy group that provides legal representation to migrant children, in an email to The Lever.

This development comes as immigrant children are increasingly targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing attack on immigrants, the agency plans to open a call center to track down unaccompanied children and has attempted to transform the Office of Refugee Resettlement from a humanitarian agency to an immigration enforcement arm.

Legal defense for immigrant children has historically been provided through a nationwide network of legal nonprofits, most recently led by the Acacia Center for Justice. But sources familiar with the matter say the new cost-cutting measures laid out in the procurement records appear to be tailored for private firms — and that ICF International, a large consulting and information technology vendor that works with the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency ICE, is planning to submit a bid to help take over the effort.

According to a letter signed by 50 law firms, nonprofits, and immigrant rights advocates reviewed by The Lever, ICF is planning to bid on the contract in partnership with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a nonprofit that provides minors with pro bono representation from major law firms. Kids in Need of Defense, cofounded in 2008 by Jolie and Microsoft, currently offers services through the Unaccompanied Children Program.

The advocates’ letter, addressed to Kids in Need of Defense’s board of directors, urges the nonprofit to reconsider its decision to work with the for-profit contractor, claiming that such a partnership could have “extraordinary” consequences for the legal aid program.

“We are concerned that partnering with a for-profit company (that also contracts with ICE) will put KIND in the position of rolling back protections for children,” noted the letter.

Kids in Need of Defense and ICF International did not respond to inquiries from The Lever.

Rewriting The Rules

For years, Republicans have targeted the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Children Program. Current White House chief of staff and anti-immigrant extremist Stephen Miller has repeatedly sought to dismantle the office overseeing the legal defense network and instead turn it into “an immigration enforcement office.” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has also criticized the program and, in 2023, sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services scrutinizing the activities of the nonprofit network operating its legal services.

In March, the Trump administration attempted to ax the program altogether, canceling the Acacia Center’s contract to administer it. Within weeks, a federal judge stepped in, ordering the government to restore the program — at least temporarily — after immigrant rights advocates sued, arguing that legal aid for unaccompanied children is mandated by federal law.

Stymied by the courts, the Trump administration now appears to be using other tactics to attack the legal defense program.

The proposed changes to the program’s scope released last week have received little attention beyond the small network of lawyers and activists who work closely with migrant children in need of legal representation. But advocates wrote in their letter that the new changes could have “extraordinary” consequences for legal aid.

Experts say the new request for proposals departs considerably from past versions, adding new stipulations that potentially endanger children’s legal rights, violating their privacy and stripping away resources meant to go toward fighting their cases in immigration court.

Of particular concern to advocates are unprecedented new data-sharing requirements, which, apparently for the first time, require the groups providing legal counsel to share “detailed, individualized” case information directly with the federal government, the party trying to deport them. In their Nov. 26 letter, advocates called this “a clear breach of our ethical obligations not to divulge our clients’ confidential information.”

The procurement documents additionally require that 20 percent of the program’s legal services be provided for free by pro bono attorneys — typically lawyers employed at large law firms, who usually have far less experience advocating for and working with vulnerable, sometimes traumatized children. 

In addition, the proposal would slash program funding by switching to a new fixed payment amount per case, rather than tying compensation to the time each case requires, which can vary widely. According to nonprofits currently providing these legal services, such cost-cutting measures may shut out many cash-strapped organizations and instead primarily appeal to well-financed, for-profit entities. 

The request also limits the number of immigrant children that the new contractor can serve, a change that advocates say is designed to narrow the program’s benefits.

What’s more, under the new proposal, virtual computer-based “know your rights” lessons and intake procedures for kids may replace in-person services. The proposed changes allow for introductory legal meetings for unaccompanied child minors, some reportedly as young as two, to involve “audiovisual tools (e.g., recorded videos, online content) to ensure timely delivery of the legal orientation.”

“It is hard to imagine how a young or traumatized child could receive meaningful legal support through remote services or by simply watching a video,” Lukens, from the Amica Center, wrote in an email to The Lever.

The procurement records furthermore repeatedly direct lawyers to help children with “repatriation,” a term that “often means forced or coerced deportation,” advocates wrote in their letter criticizing the proposal.

To The Highest Bidder

A day after the Department of Health and Human Services released the new contracting documents, advocates sent their letter to Kids in Need of Defense’s board, calling the proposed revisions to the program “unlawful and dangerous.”

Many of the letter’s 50 signees worked under the Acacia Center’s umbrella to provide legal services for migrant children across the country. “Organizations in this network have been providing these services for decades,” the letter’s authors wrote. Now, they claim the Trump administration’s actions seem tailored to supplant this long-standing network with an ICE technology partner. 

ICF International, a large information technology vendor, has worked with federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, for decades. “For over 20 years, ICF has been a trusted partner to [the Department of Homeland Security], supporting the agency through multiple mission-critical technology engagements,” an ICF executive boasted in a 2022 press release about a $340 million contract the company secured with the DHS. 

As part of that arrangement, in 2023, ICF was awarded a $36 million DHS contract to modernize ICE’s human resources technology system “to ensure the system advances the recruitment, retention, and career progression of ICE employees.” Days later, ICF won a separate $32 million project to modernize ICE’s homeland security investigations systems.

ICF International has partnered with Kids in Need of Defense before. Last year, as part of a five-year, $821 million government contract, the duo won a contract to become the legal service provider for migrant children released from the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s custody. The Acacia Center unsuccessfully submitted a bid for that solicitation, according to procurement records reviewed by The Lever, potentially setting a precedent for further privatization of services now underway. 

potentially setting a precedent for further privatization of services now underway. 

But the new letter’s signees encouraged Kids in Need of Defense to partner with the nonprofits that had long provided legal aid to migrant children, rather than the for-profit tech contractor.

“We ask that KIND stand with us in our shared mission to defend and protect immigrant children,” the advocates wrote. “We fear that if we are not together, we will put vulnerable children in harm’s way.”