A small Texas law firm has withdrawn from consideration for a $150 million federal contract to represent unaccompanied migrant children after immigrant advocacy groups raised concerns.
In a court filing on Thursday, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services said that Burke Law Group informed the agency it was withdrawing from consideration for the grant.
ABC News previously reported that the Texas law firm, which has connections to the Trump administration, was set to receive the contract worth $150 million to represent migrant children.
Burke Law Group has 26 employees across eight offices, according to its website. While the firm’s attorneys did not initially list immigration law as a practice area, they later updated their website to include immigration.Â
In a notice to the Federal Register announcing its intent to award the contract to the firm, HHS said the contract would “provide legal orientation, legal consultation, and attorney-of-record representation services for eligible unaccompanied alien children” during immigration proceedings and hearings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services while the children remain in government custody.”
A U.S. Border Patrol agent speaks to suspected immigrants near the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas, Dec. 21, 2016.
Eddie Seal/Bloomberg via Getty Images
One of the founders, Marcella Burke, is a former Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Jeffrey Hall, a former employee and founding partner, was appointed and confirmed to serve in the EPA late last year.
Burke Law Group did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
After HHS announced its intent last week, Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amika Center for Immigrant Rights, said on a press call, “It is very odd that HHS, in its mission to protect children, has chosen to give such a large amount of money to a firm that is clearly unqualified instead of continuing to work with the nonprofits that have been doing this for almost 20 years.”
In December 2023, the Acacia Center for Justice, an immigrant advocacy group, became the prime contract holder with HHS for the Unaccompanied Children Program, overseeing subcontracts with more than 100 service providers that provide legal representation to more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children.
A spokesperson with HHS previously told ABC News that its sub-agency, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), “offered Acacia the opportunity” to receive a new federal contract “based on requirements that include they provide the data on who they represent and that they bill [HHS] when they submit applications for immigration relief.” The HHS spokesperson said Acacia refused.
Legal services providers including Acacia have said that ORR was demanding “client-level data that is confidential and legally privileged.”
During the Trump administration, Acacia and many of its subcontracted groups have alleged that unaccompanied children and their sponsors are among those being targeted under the administration’s immigration crackdown.
In June, DHS agents visited the offices of several Washington-area nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children. Last year, ABC News reported that the administration was directing immigration agents to track down unaccompanied migrant children in the United States.
In the court declaration on Thursday, the HHS official said the agency is in the “final stages of negotiations with another potential successor contractor.”
