The Trump administration's recent move to drastically cut funding for its Unaccompanied Children Program has stirred a pool of concern among immigration advocates and legal service providers. According to Seattle's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA), as of March 21, legal representation for over 26,000 minors who are wading through the complexities of US immigration courts has been significantly undermined.
The move has left organizations like the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) facing a bleak outlook, KIND has been a fierce ally in ensuring that children who arrive alone on American shores are afforded the dignity and safety they deserve through proper legal advocacy and representation. "The stakes of removal proceedings in immigration court are incredibly high. They can mean the difference between safety and violence, between stability and family separation, and sometimes even between life and death," Kayley Bebber, NWIRP Directing Attorney for the Unaccompanied Children Program, highlighted the dire consequences of the funding slash in a statement released by OIRA.
Statistics from the Vera Institute of Justice underscore the necessity of legal counsel with findings that over 90 percent of unaccompanied children who go to court without representation are more likely to be removed or voluntarily leave the U.S. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell expressed his city's commitment to multiculturalism and denounced the cuts as "unconscionable," asserting that Seattle will continue to support organizations providing legal assistance to immigrant and refugee children in a statement released by OIRA.
Children hailing from over 30 countries have been served by KIND's office, among them many survivors of violence from Central American nations like El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, these children have been relying on KIND not only for sanctuary from physical harm but also for a pathway to healing and growth, underlining the gravity of the program's survival, KIND forwarded assistance to 69 children in 2023 in their legal battles within Washington's immigration courts. "The administration's devastating decision to strip vital legal services away from unaccompanied children runs counter to its stated desire to protect kids," said Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) President Wendy Young in condemnation of the cuts reported by OIRA.
OIRA Director Hamdi Mohamed called the rollback a "dark day in the history of this country," reaffirming OIRA's commitment to immigrant children and supporting partner organizations. The department announced a $240,000 Rapid Response funding initiative in March to buttress legal services in Seattle, which includes know your rights training and legal consultations counteracting the lost protections resulting from federal policy changes. Despite these efforts, local practitioners and policymakers warn of the long-term implications these funding cuts may have on thousands of vulnerable children navigating the US immigration system.
