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Funders: What You Need to Know to Protect Immigrant Children From Losing Their Lawyers

Recently, we partnered with Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) to host an emergency funder briefing to inform our network of how immigrant children face the risk of losing their legal representation. 

It was powerful to gather alongside so many funders, advocates, and partners committed to protecting their rights. It was clear that philanthropy has a powerful role in protecting children and advancing justice.

Where We Are Right Now

Family detention has dramatically escalated under the current administration. Since 2025, the average number of children held in immigration detention each day has increased by more than 800%, from 24 to 226 children daily, resulting in more than 6,000 children being incarcerated over the past year. Detention causes lasting harm: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institutes of Health, and other medical experts have concluded that no period of child detention can be considered safe, citing increased risks of trauma, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

At the same time, more than 3,000 children have been deported with little or no notice, legal service providers have gone months without reimbursement for representing children, and the legal infrastructure that has protected unaccompanied children for decades is now at risk of being dismantled. 

This is not simply a policy debate, it is an urgent humanitarian and due process crisis requiring immediate action from philanthropy.

What We Heard

The federal government is reportedly preparing to move unaccompanied children into Texas, separating many from the attorneys who know their cases and have earned their trust. Right now, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has a request for information that fits the description for a massive influx setting for kids. It states that the contractor should be prepared to receive 400 new children at the 3000 bed facility every two weeks.

At the same time, the network of legal service providers representing more than 20,000 unaccompanied children has gone months without federal reimbursement, and the current contract supporting this work is set to expire on July 31.

Together, these actions threaten to dismantle the legal infrastructure that has protected children for decades, making it far more likely that children will face immigration proceedings alone and be fast-tracked toward deportation without meaningful access to due process.

Legal Representation Should Not be Optional

Children cannot be expected to navigate one of the country's most complex legal systems on their own.
The organizations representing these children have spent decades building specialized expertise that cannot simply be replaced if programs are forced to close.

Without immediate philanthropic support, many providers face impossible choices, including layoffs, hiring freezes, and ending services for children who urgently need representation.

One moment that especially stayed with us was Melissa Lopez's reminder that "children have a right to be children." Whether it's carrying teddy bears into courtrooms to comfort young children or standing beside them through life-changing legal proceedings, these organizations provide far more than legal services, they provide stability, dignity, and hope.

Organizations to Support

If you're looking for ways to help immediately, we encourage you to support the organizations leading this work. Take a peek at this comprehensive map of Unaccompanied Children Program Legal Services Network.

Acacia Center for Justice 

The Acacia Center for Justice is a national nonprofit that serves as the backbone organization supporting a network of nearly 100 legal service providers representing unaccompanied children and other vulnerable immigrants. Through national coordination, technical assistance, quality oversight, training, and strategic investments, Acacia helps ensure children across the country have access to high-quality legal representation.  Federal funding disruptions have placed unprecedented strain on Acacia and our network of legal services organizations, imperiling the continuity of trauma-informed experts delivering legal services for over 20,000 unaccompanied children. As legal service providers continue representing children despite delayed reimbursements and growing demand, Acacia has already deployed more than $5 million in emergency stabilization resources to help preserve legal representation and maintain critical legal capacity across the network.
 
👉🏽Our ask: We are seeking philanthropic partners to invest in preserving the national legal infrastructure that protects immigrant children. Flexible funding will help stabilize legal service providers, retain experienced legal professionals, strengthen the national coordination and technical assistance that support nearly 100 organizations, and ensure children continue to have access to high-quality legal representation during this period of uncertainty. We welcome investments in general operating support, the Children's Legal Support Fund, and leadership support to help capitalize our $10–15 million Field Stabilization and Continuity Fund, a national bridge funding initiative designed to prevent temporary government funding disruptions from becoming permanent losses of legal capacity. Learn more information in Acacia’s brief here. 
 
Individual donors can also contribute directly to the Children’s Legal Support Fund at tinyurl.com/4kidsfund 

Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project 

For over 35 years, the Florence Project has pursued empowerment and justice for detained immigrants in Arizona. Every day, we see the courage of the children and adults we serve as they navigate a legal system stacked against them, and what we learn representing them and providing legal and social services drives everything else we do: filing lawsuits, shaping national policy, and putting our clients' stories at the forefront. We envision a world where all immigrants are treated fairly and humanely, and we work toward that every single day.

👉🏽Right now, we are fighting to protect children from unlawful transfers and hold the government accountable to its own laws, and the need for free legal and social services or advocacy work is more critical than ever. A gift of any amount helps us sustain this work. 

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) 

KIND works to ensure that no child appears in immigration court without high quality legal representation; advancing laws, policies, and practices that ensure children’s protection and uphold their right to due process and fundamental fairness; and promoting in countries of origin, transit, and destination durable solutions to child migration that are grounded in the best interests of the child and ensure that no child is forced to involuntarily migrate.

👉🏽KIND which recently furloughed staff and ended its Acacia subcontract after the government failed to pay over $20 million owed for services already rendered. 

Estrella del Paso 

Over 40 years of Immigration Legal Advocates Offering Free Legal Services as a ministry of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso. Estrella serves tens of thousands of individuals each year while maintaining a denial rate that hovers near zero. As the largest provider of these services, our scale of operations and the advocacy and expertise of our team are unmatched by any other provider in the region.

👉🏽 Donations, regardless of the amount, are greatly appreciated. We are urgently trying to replenish our reserves, which have been completely depleted, and restore our cash flow to healthy operational levels for the organization. We have created a long-term goal of raising $1 million in donations over the course of one year; however, there is an urgent need to raise $150,000 in the next three weeks and a total of $500,000 in the next three months to avoid further financial detriment to the organization, ensure continued representation of current clients, and avoid future reductions in programming. 

Immigrant Defenders Law Center

California’s largest nonprofit deportation defense law firm, providing free legal aid to community members impacted by the immigration system.

👉🏽Join the movement for immigrant justice to learn more about their work and donate so they can continue delivering life-saving legal services through programs that empower immigrant communities to withstand increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics by ICE in an exceptionally hostile environment.

AMICA: Center for Immigrant Rights

The Amica Center for Immigrant Rights fights for the rights, safety, and unity of immigrant communities, standing with those trapped in our nation’s fundamentally flawed immigration system. AMICA engages in unwavering legal defense and strategic litigation for immigrant children and adults facing detention and deportation. Everyone deserves access to due process and legal representation, and we work every day to make that a reality.

👉🏽Support Amica as they filed a joint lawsuit to demand accountability and immediate compliance to care for these children, instead harm and deport them. 

How You Can Take Action

There are meaningful ways to help right now. Share this information with colleagues, partners, and fellow funders. Every conversation helps build the momentum needed to protect children's rights.

Resources

We've included several of the resources shared for and during the briefing to help you continue learning and taking action:

Articles: 

This is a moment that calls on all of us, not simply to witness what's happening, but to respond.  We hope you move resources, raise awareness, and stand alongside the organizations working every day to ensure every child has access to safety, dignity, and justice.

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