Immigrant children face loss of legal aid in Wisconsin

Federal funding for attorneys for unaccompanied immigrant children has been thrown into upheaval, becoming the latest hurdle immigration legal clinics in Wisconsin, and around the country, must navigate.

As immigration policies and regulations change at a rapid pace under President Donald Trump’s administration, advocates are reiterating how having a lawyer in immigration proceedings can lead to a dramatic difference in outcomes.

Without a lawyer, “You are forced to face the full weight of the federal government,” said Grant Sovern, who leads the Community Immigration Law Center in Madison.

That means children and adults alike make their cases against deportation alone in immigration court, defending themselves against attorneys for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and judges employed by the Department of Justice, who all went to law school and are sure to better understand the complexities of immigration law, Sovern said.

On July 31, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services severed funding to the national group that gave money to nonprofits around the country that collectively represent more than 20,000 immigrant children who arrived in the U.S. without a parent. Advocates say those children now face the prospect of attending immigration court alone.

A week later, the federal government announced it would award a $150 million contract to represent unaccompanied children to a law firm in Texas with 26 employees. None of the firm’s attorneys list immigration law as an area of expertise, Politico reported.

Locally, the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School was on the verge of receiving a grant from the umbrella group, the Acacia Center for Justice. But that grant disappeared because Acacia’s contract with the government just ended after a months-long standoff. Acacia said the government owes them $65 million in unpaid legal fees and has held the money “hostage” unless Acacia provides attorney-client privileged information about its clients. The funds to Acacia were allocated by Congress.

UW legal clinic director Erin Barbato was expecting to hire an attorney and a paralegal to handle Wisconsin children’s cases with funds from Acacia until she recently got a call saying the money wouldn’t be coming her way.

The Immigrant Justice Clinic is the main organization in Wisconsin that handles cases of unaccompanied children ages 12 and under.

“These children are in very vulnerable situations. And without legal representation, they really are on their own,” Barbato said. “If the government doesn’t provide funding for representation for these children, they have no way to afford an attorney.”

In one recent study in Illinois, when a person was represented by an attorney, their odds of winning protection from deportation increased 366%. The law is so complicated that for children and adults alike, it’s “just impossible” to successfully fight one’s case alone, said Sovern, whose clinic proves free and low-cost representation for people in deportation proceedings.

“Getting your day in court is what America is about, and no kid is getting their fair day in court without a lawyer,” he said.

The back-and-forth over funding for Acacia comes as the number of immigrants in detention remains near record levels, and unaccompanied children have been spending longer in government custody before reuniting with their parents – from an average of 30 days in the 2024 fiscal year to 117 days in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the government’s own data.

Barbato now faces uncertainty over whether the UW clinic can find funding to hire attorneys to represent children.

“Unless there is private funding potentially available, this is it,” Barbato said. “There is not another safety net for this type of representation.”

New asylum rule chips away at due process for immigrants, attorneys say

Sovern pointed to a new asylum processing rule that they expect will make it even harder for certain immigrants to get legal status.

Now, asylum officers can look at someone’s application and decide whether to send them to deportation proceedings without giving them an interview first. Most people complete their asylum applications without a lawyer, in their own words, and may make a small mistake that disqualifies them before they have a chance to explain themselves, Sovern said.

“There is no way an asylum officer is going to know the real truth of what happened from these applications,” he said, saying it is “purely a lack of due process. Now people are not getting what the law has always given them.”

The quickly changing legal environment means that it’s more difficult than ever to save people from deportation, Barbato said. But an attorney at least provides a measure of comfort.

“They’re not as scared. They’re not alone. They know someone does believe in them, and will provide representation, and be with them in court,” she said.

Sovern hopes people can agree: Let’s apply the laws as they are and give people due process.

“Let’s at least give people a shot,” he said.