A San Francisco judge has ordered the Trump administration to continue funding a program that provides unaccompanied minors with an attorney to represent them in immigration court.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin issued the preliminary injunction on Wednesday while a lawsuit over paying for an attorney makes its way through the court system.
Last month, the Trump Administration cut the funding to legal aid groups that provide legal services to minors.
“This really is not a policy debate,” said Adina Appelbaum, director of Immigration Impact Lab at Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. “It’s about children, it’s a legal obligation, and it’s a human obligation. And so far the government has failed both. So we need to make sure that no unaccompanied child should face deportation alone and that the system does not abandon babies and toddlers, especially when the consequences are this dire.”
Appelbaum works for one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to NBC Bay Area’s request for comment.
Appelbaum said the government did recently sign a new contract with one of the legal aid contractors, but added they won’t feel confident the children will be represented until they see the money coming in.
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