Top Trump officials called a small Texas agency last month. They had a strange ask. They wanted Texas to help find lawyers for migrant kids. These kids face deportation. That means they could be sent home.
Scott Ehlers runs the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. It is a state group. It pays for lawyers for poor Texans. He told the Texas Tribune about the calls. The first one came from staff at the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Then James McHenry called too. McHenry is a top hearing officer at the U.S. Department of Justice. He once served for a short time as acting U.S. attorney general.
This matters here in South Texas. Many migrant kids cross the border in our area. They often wait here first. Then they move to shelters or courts. If Texas takes this job, it could change who defends kids in court. That change would hit the whole state.
Ehlers told the officials his agency could not do this work. It would break the law. State lawmakers built his group for one job. That job was to pay for lawyers in criminal cases. It was not built for immigration cases. A Justice Department spokesperson would not give their name. They said a federal agency first asked Paxton's office for help. That agency is called the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Paxton's office did not think it could take on the work. So Paxton's office said to ask the indigent defense group instead. The spokesperson said the Justice Department had to check one thing. Was the plan legal?
The request comes at a tense time. A group called the Acacia Center for Justice runs the main legal aid program for migrant kids. That deal ends July 31. The government has also closed at least 50 shelters for migrant kids. Those closures hit states like New York and Illinois. At the same time, firms have posted shelter jobs here in Texas. Lawyers who help migrant kids say this points to one thing. More kids may soon get moved here.
Shaina Aber leads the Acacia Center. She said her group is worried. "We are concerned, as are our legal service provider partners, about a potential transfer of children to Texas where there is no independent oversight of facilities and away from many of the attorneys with whom children have built trust," Aber said.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon raised a bigger alarm. He wrote a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He said he got word of a plan. The plan would rush the removal of more than 500 migrant kids. Wyden told the Tribune the Texas calls add to his worry. "A sole source contract handed out by the Texas Attorney General to handle legal representation of unaccompanied children is not legal representation at all," Wyden said. "It is the Trump deportation agenda being executed by a political ally paid for by taxpayer dollars." A Health and Human Services spokesperson named Emily Hilliard denied any plan to target those kids. She called Wyden's claim "irresponsible fearmongering."
Migrant kids who cross the border alone need help. They have no mom or dad with them. The law calls them unaccompanied minors. Congress passed a law back in 2000. It said the government must help pay for lawyers for these kids. The idea was simple. A child should not fight a deportation case alone. More kids started crossing in 2012. Most came from Central America. Since last year, Trump officials have cut back protections for these kids bit by bit. New rules make it harder for family to pick up kids from shelters.
A Justice Department lawyer told a court in April that migrant kids do not get a free lawyer paid for by the government. A group called Kids In Need of Defense dropped its deal with Acacia this week. Actress Angelina Jolie helped start that group years back. The group says the government owes it over 20 million dollars. That money is for legal work going back to December.
Rochelle Garza is a South Texas lawyer. She leads the Texas Civil Rights Project. She said Texas is not ready for this job. "The state of Texas is not prepared to handle this undertaking in a humane way," Garza said.
It is still not clear if the Texas group can do this work under the law. Rodney Ellis helped write the law that made the group. He was a state senator back then. He called the idea "ludicrous." Two other board members had doubts too. State Rep. Joe Moody sits on the board. He said the law "definitely doesn't provide for federal civil defense."
Staff for Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott did not answer questions about this. It is not yet clear if the group will take the deal. Abbott could try to force the issue with his own order. The Acacia deal runs out this month. A decision could come soon.
