Office of Refugee Resettlement Pushes Back on Reports of Children Facing Court Without Lawyers

The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is challenging recent media coverage of migrant children appearing in court without legal representation. The response focuses particularly on a New York Times piece, titled “7 Years Old, No Lawyer: Migrant Children Face Deportation Hearings Alone.” The fuller picture, officials say, includes multiple layers of consultations — legal, medical, psychological, and professional, including law enforcement, other government partners, and a vast array of private collaborators.

ORR falls under the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). I talked with the acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Angie Salazar, and John Fabbricatore, ORR senior adviser, on Friday night about the recent coverage and situation as they assess it.

In a fact sheet provided to National Review ahead of public release, ORR specifically addresses claims that by ending a contract this summer with an independent contractor, Acacia, the current administration is dismantling protections for minors. ORR officials say when it looked at what the Biden administration left them with, they “discovered that anywhere between 40% and 70% (depending on the week) of [Unaccompanied Alien Child] were arriving in court without legal representation. ORR requested Acacia substantiate their invoice with data so ORR could know what legal representation was being rendered and for which UAC. Acacia failed to provide such documentation.”

Acacia claims in the Times and in court that it is privileged information it is holding back, but ORR says it includes basic proof of the existence of persons in (and out of) the system. According to Salazar, there was a jarring discrepancy in the services paid for by the government compared with services rendered. Why did only 8 percent of the minors (according to ORR) receive direct legal representation from Acacia’s network of legal providers under a contract valued at more than $1 billion?

Salazar admits the process of expanding individual legal representation for minors is going more slowly than she’d like: “By and large, they’re appearing as a friend of the court.” This level of assistance does not establish an attorney-client relationship with the child. At the same time, she notes the minors “do have a team while a legal direct representative wasn’t there. They are surrounded by people.” Having now hired the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, progress is being made, Salazar says.

Salazar describes a more streamlined process for minor migrants, one more in line with the kinds of vetting standards one would encounter when looking to give a home to a child in the foster care system. The fact sheet describes “strict performance, compliance, oversight, and reporting standards.”

When asked about media reports of substandard conditions while under ORR, Salazar acknowledges she closed down some centers but has confidence in the system they’re running now. Fabbricatore attributes this to the lower number of unaccompanied minors currently entering the country, noting that under the Biden administration the overload allowed smugglers to make a killing off an overwhelmed system with dangerously inadequate safeguards.

According to Fabbricatore, the surge in arrivals during the Biden years overwhelmed ORR’s capacity to vet adult sponsors, track children, and identify those being exploited by traffickers and subject to abhorrent crimes by smugglers.

ORR defends its record under Trump 47 with a picture of officials with extensive immigration-enforcement experience cleaning up a mess that has been unconscionably and unaccountably hurting children.

The release can be read here.