Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined 31 of her Senate colleagues in a letter led by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum demanding that they continue legal services for unaccompanied children caught up in the immigration system as required by law.
Earlier this month, the Trump Administration issued a stop work order to organizations that provide legal services for unaccompanied children. Last week, following public pressure, the order was rescinded.
“Pausing or terminating the provision of legal services to unaccompanied children under this contract runs directly counter to the requirements of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and places 26,000 unaccompanied children at increased risk of trafficking, exploitation, and other harm,” wrote the Senators. “The TVPRA, passed by Congress in 2008 on a bipartisan basis, requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that all unaccompanied children have counsel to represent them in legal proceedings and protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking.”
According to a report by the Guardian this month, the organizations affected by the previous stop work order provide legal counsel for around 26,000 unaccompanied minors.
“Cutting off access to legal services makes it more likely that the government will lose track of unaccompanied children, given the challenges such children would face in independently appearing for immigration court hearings, submitting address updates, or otherwise communicating with immigration authorities,” continued the Senators. “Not only will this make children more vulnerable to trafficking, but it will also create further inefficiencies in an already backlogged immigration court system.”
Read the full letter here.
The first and only Latina senator, Senator Cortez Masto has consistently supported immigrant communities in Nevada, calling on both administrations to protect TPS holders and other immigrants, as well as leading commonsense legislation to fix our broken immigration system. Cortez Masto joined Senator Rosen (D-Nev.) in introducing the Born in the USA Act to effectively block the implementation of President Trump’s unconstitutional Executive Order attempting to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States. She has worked to pass meaningful immigration reform that balances critical border security measures with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers, and she’s pushed legislation to allow Dreamers and TPS holders to work in Congress.
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