‘An Impossible Situation’: NY Providers Scramble After Trump Cuts Legal Aid For Unaccompanied Minors
Last month, the Trump administration instructed providers around the country to immediately cease legal services to unaccompanied minors after it failed to renew over $200 million in grants. The cuts could impact thousands of cases for immigrant youth in New York, who are much more likely to be detained and deported without attorneys to help them through immigration court.
“The lawyers will face a series of increasingly difficult questions: how long can they afford to represent the kids for free? How will they balance their ethical duties to vulnerable children?” said Madison Allman of the Acacia Center for Justice, which runs the Unaccompanied Children Program (UCP) through a network of local providers. “They are now caught in an impossible situation that is entirely manufactured by this administration.”
