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A Houston law firm is poised to take over one of the federal government's largest immigration legal aid programs after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services quietly unveiled plans to award it a contract worth up to $150 million annually.
According to a notice posted Tuesday, ahead of its publication in the Federal Register, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) intends to award a single-source cooperative agreement to Burke Law Group, a Houston-based firm, to provide legal services for unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody.
The contract would make Burke Law Group responsible for providing legal orientation, legal consultations, and attorney representation for eligible children during immigration proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review and hearings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The firm would also provide limited legal continuity planning and referral services when children leave ORR custody.
The agreement would run through August 2027, replacing the federal government's previous agreement with the Acacia Center for Justice, whose contract expired after months of funding disputes.
Acacia worked with a nationwide network of nonprofit organizations, including Kids in Need of Defense and numerous community-based legal groups that collectively represented nearly 20,000 unaccompanied children.
The notice states the award is being issued as a single-source cooperative agreement, meaning Burke Law Group would receive the funding without a competitive grant process. The proposed funding totals $150 million, making it one of the largest legal services awards focused on unaccompanied migrant children.
The announcement comes as the federal government continues reshaping how legal representation is provided to migrant children, a shift that could significantly change the organizations responsible for representing thousands of minors navigating the U.S. immigration system.
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Wow--this law firm got the sole-source contract (and BTW, one of the requirements for a "justification for other than full and open competition" is that the selected contractor has necessary & unique skills required to do the job; or, there is such a time urgency that the govt is not able to follow the rules for a competitive procurement), without having the necessary skills. And in a matter of days, hired 2 immigration attorneys and added that skill to its website. But when it hits the news (see the Houston Chronicle front page, Aug 13) it declines the contract and says it was confused about exactly what legal/contractual obligations it had submitted a proposal for??!!