In 2015, then-NYC Public Advocate Letitia James personally represented a tenth grader whom she identified only as “Keybi” in immigration court. The unaccompanied minor arrived in the United States from Honduras alone and faced almost certain deportation without a lawyer, but James convinced the judge to allow the teen to stay with his uncle in Brooklyn through a special immigrant juvenile status with a pathway to obtaining a green card.
On August 12, James, who is now New York State attorney general, recounted that story as she stood with Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to announce $7.25 million in state funding toward legal representation for unaccompanied minors after the Trump administration did not re-up a contract with legal service provider Acacia Center for Justice. The money will cover more than 1,400 children across the state who arrived in the country without a parent or legal guardian, as Keybi once did.
“Keybi has graduated from college, Keybi is married now,” said James. “Keybi, of course, lives in Brooklyn. Keybi is contributing to our economy and Keybi now has status, but what I remember about family court that day was that there were a number of children without attorneys, some of them so small when they sat in the courtroom, their feet didn’t touch the ground; some of them had toys in their hands; some of them looked around in bewilderment [and] most of them were alone.
“No parents, no guardians, no lawyers. That cannot happen again. It’s up to our state. It’s up to our city to move forward and to protect these children, and to not sit idly by, and allow their rights to be violated, or allow them to be in deportation proceedings and return to countries that, unfortunately, are very violent.”
Immigrant children who arrive in the United States alone — unaccompanied minors — are entitled to counsel, thanks to the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. However, with millions being withheld from Acacia and other similar providers, legal support is at risk.
“Check the history books: 20 years ago, that bipartisan law was signed by a Republican president, George Bush, way back in 2008, and for good reason,” said Hochul. “They knew that these children were endangered. Unaccompanied minors without legal representation were more likely to be trafficked, more likely to be abused, more likely to be sent back in dangerous situations.”
After the expiration of Acacia, the Trump administration reportedly awarded a $158 million no-bid contract to Our Rescue (formerly known as Operation Underground Railroad) to represent unaccompanied minors. The controversial anti-trafficking organization stems from Tim Ballard, a former ICE agent who inspired the film “Sound of Freedom.” Ballard resigned from leading the nonprofit after sexual misconduct allegations a few months after the movie became a surprising, but polarizing, box office hit in 2023.
“The federal government will tell you that they have fulfilled this contract with other legal services providers, yet they have selected firms that lack the credibility and the seriousness to protect these children,” said Mamdani. “Take one organization, whose founder and former CEO, a retired ICE agent, resigned due to sexual misconduct allegations. Make no mistake about it: The refusal to renew this contract with providers who specialize in this work is nothing less than a deportation order for children as young as five years old.”
New York Immigration Coalition president and CEO Murad Awawdeh joined Hochul, James, and Mamdani on stage. Later, he told the Amsterdam News that he also holds concerns about contracting Our Rescue, which does not openly boast immigration legal services on its website and focuses on aiding law enforcement.
“When you are representing someone as an attorney, your job is to represent the best interests of your client,” said Awawdeh, “and when an administration is handing a contract that size to a law firm in Texas without a bidding process, without any real oversight, that really raises concern for all of us. What is the intent of it? What does it mean? Are they being told we don’t know to tell people to self-deport or telling them to sign away their rights?”
The announcement also underscored an upcoming state law banning local law enforcement, including in nonsanctuary cities, from formally cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. It goes into effect next week and will force multiple agencies, including the Nassau County Police Department, to terminate 287(g) agreements allowing local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE.
