Thousands of unaccompanied migrant children facing deportation have lost their legal representation after the Trump administration tore up contracts with their nonprofit and legal aid defenders.Now the administration is recruiting active and retired military lawyers as replacements.The Defense Department has contacted current and former military personnel to support the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement, responsible for housing unaccompanied migrant children, a Pentagon spokesperson told NBC News in an email.Some of these children have been victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse as well as neglect and violence in their home countries.The spokesperson said the Defense Department has “provided information about available opportunities” to represent unaccompanied migrant children to DOD attorneys “who have recently retired or who soon plan to retire, encouraging them to represent” the children.
The Defense Department referred further questions about compensation, incentives and other issues to HHS.Michael Lukens, executive director of Amica Center for Immigrant Justice, whose group was among the providers of legal representation for the unaccompanied children, said military lawyers are wholly unqualified to provide these services.
“I’m very concerned about the ethics of a government attorney representing children against another branch of the government,” he said.The Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, said in an email in response to NBC News’ request for comment that the agency is “committed to ensuring all eligible unaccompanied children have legal representation during immigration proceedings.” The agency said it is “exploring opportunities to hire former or soon-to-retire Department of War attorneys who are interested in applying their legal experiences to continued public service” and is not limiting the “opportunities” to only that group.
“Experienced DOW attorneys h...