Small Texas law firm set to receive $150M to represent unaccompanied migrant children

Migrant children line up to enter a tent at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla. in February 2019. Wilfredo Lee/AP hide caption

Migrant children line up to enter a tent at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla. in February 2019.

AUSTIN, Texas — The federal government plans to award $150 million to a small Texas law firm with ties to the Trump administration to represent unaccompanied immigrant children in government custody without a guardian during immigration proceedings, according to a notice set to post to the Federal Register on Thursday.

The government has been required by law for decades to protect migrant children who are in the country illegally without guardians, over fears they could be exploited, abused or trafficked. Some of the children are so young they haven't learned to talk and without adequate representation it is almost guaranteed that kids will be deported.

The firm, Houston-based Burke Law Group, specializes in advising "companies on complex environmental, regulatory, and enforcement matters," its website states. Out of 24 attorneys, only two specialize in immigration and asylum cases.

"Instead of taking care of these children, the government is instead implementing things such as awarding a contract to a private small law firm in Texas with no discernible experience in relevant immigration law or child welfare," said Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, the deputy director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, a nonprofit that provided legal services to unaccompanied minors.

Burke Law Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment via phone and email. The Department of Health and Human Services, which is the agency awarding the contract, did not respond either.

The proposed award comes after a contract with a group of nearly 100 legal nonprofits to do similar work expired on Friday .