Before the judge ordered this, the Trump administration agreed to resume payments for immigrant children coming to the United States alone.
But the group that has been working to prevent such unaccompanied children from being deported said legal help remains at risk amid the Republican proposal raised on Wednesday on the House committee.
“I’ve been in this work for a long time, what I read in the breath that I read in this bill,” said Jennifer Podkul, vice president of child policy and advocacy for defense. “The bill not only prevents children from getting protection in the United States, but will also put the government in charge of putting children in a more compromise and dangerous state.”
The White House, the Department of Health and Human Services and the House Judiciary Committee considered the measure and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguin of the Northern California region issued a preliminary injunction late Tuesday ordering the government to restore funds for the legal aid and stopped in March.
Several groups who were forced to suddenly fire workers and scramble to provide legal assistance for unaccompanied immigrant children seek help in other cases (including some victims of trafficking) and in some cases withdraw from the case.
Martínez-Olguin ordered the government to restore the case's lawyers. But the plaintiffs' organization filed more complaints to the court, saying the government refused to comply with the interim restraining order. During this period, the government filed an appeal and tried to get the judge to withdraw it.
Adina Appelbaum, director of the program at Amica Immigration Rights Immigration Impact Laboratory, said the government signed a revised contract on Monday ahead of the deadline for Martinez-Olguin’s decision on the preliminary ban.
Acacia has subcontracted more than 100 groups across the country to provide legal assistance to about 26,000 unaccompanied children. Appebaum said the new contract will be shorter.
But how long the funding will last depends on what is done in the budget legislation currently being formulated by Congress. The measures considered by the House committee will omit lawyer funds for unaccompanied children, for which Congress has paid since 2009, under immigration and anti-trafficking organizations that review legislation.
The measure also presents a number of fees that will be charged to unaccompanied children and their parents or guardians who may be available in the United States. This includes $5,000 for reaching the border between legal entry ports, and a sponsorship fee of up to $8,500.
Members of the organization that assisted unaccompanied children said the proposal (if law) would “dismantle” protections of unaccompanied children, with a “disastrous” impact on children seeking safety in the United States, including many victims of trafficking within the country.
Freedom Network executive director Jean Bruggeman, the country's largest coalition of anti-trafficking advocates and experts, said the U.S. has made "impressive" progress in human trafficking over the past 25 years.
Brugman said the measures the committee considers will be "a huge gift to traffickers and increases vulnerability to American children and families, which will lead to more abuse and exploitation."