Update: Halt to Federally-Funded Legal Services for Immigrant Children is Rescinded
Lifting our voices against repressive government policies can work!
Shortly after I sent out my last blog post, “Trump Regime Cuts Off Legal Services to Immigrant Youth,” I learned that the government rescinded its decision. The Acacia Center for Justice — the nonprofit through which federal funding for such services is distributed onward to legal services organizations representing immigrant children — announced in a statement released on Friday, February 21, 2025, that it had “received notice that it can immediately resume work providing representation and legal access services to unaccompanied children.”
Acacia reports that “[i]n less than 48 hours, members of the public sent more than 15,000 letters to Congress demanding our vital work be restored.” This is a great example of how sustained, immediate protests against unjust government policy decisions can have an impact! The fact that this particular policy hurt children probably helped drive the government’s decision to rescind the ban.
However, this doesn’t mean that unaccompanied immigrant children have it easy. There still aren’t enough lawyers to help all of the children who need legal representation. Moreover, the government has already banned immigration judges from appointing child advocates for unaccompanied immigrant children appearing in immigration court; rescinded a 2023 mandate that immigration judges ensure that all foreign nationals appearing in immigration court have access to appropriate interpretation in court; and, as also mentioned in my earlier blog, ordered federally-funded legal services providers to stop providing so-called Legal Orientation Programs to detained immigrants.
Nonetheless, we can savor this small victory for the moment. And tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, we can all do one small thing to help chip away at other repressive policies until, eventually, the whole autocratic edifice crumbles.
Speak up. It helps. And it’s good for the soul.