Trump Officials Scrap a Plan to Hand Migrant Children's Immigration Cases to Retiring Pentagon Lawyers

Defense and Health and Human Services officials told The New York Times this week that the administration was recruiting Pentagon lawyers who had recently retired or planned to retire soon to serve as attorneys for unaccompanied minors in immigration court. By the afternoon of Aug. 19, as the Times sought more detail, HHS said it was no longer pursuing the idea, which had never been announced publicly. The department said it would instead use short-term contracts and was still seeking a long-term legal services provider. The move followed the July expiration of a multiyear contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, which said it declined a new contract because the administration wanted it to share confidential data about its young clients.

More than 20,000 unaccompanied minors have pending immigration cases, and federal law requires the government to provide them legal services. Military lawyers typically handle courts-martial, weapons contracts and the law of armed conflict rather than children's asylum claims.

HHS has awarded a $158 million, six-month contract to Our Rescue, a nonprofit with little experience representing children in immigration court. Several nonprofits told the Times they had not been contacted about transferring cases.