Children being held by immigration agents in the Bay Area may have just lost their best hope — their attorneys.
Several law offices across the Bay Area are among those impacted as President Donald Trump’s administration recently cut the funding to a program that pays attorneys representing immigrant children living in the United States without their parents.
This includes Legal Services for Children (LSC) in Downtown San Francisco, a team that serves some of the most at risk youth in the Bay Area.
“It’s a lot of young people who are particularly vulnerable, who have been abused, exploited,” Stephany Arzaga, the associate legal director at LSC said.
On Tuesday, the team got a notice from the federal government to “stop work” on their contract to provide legal services to their young clients.
One of their attorneys was in immigration court on Tuesday with one of their clients when that work stop order was issued. The attorney continued with the proceeding — because the attorney is legally obligated to.
LSC’s Executive Director, Cathy Sakimura, said that the federal government is also required to pay for their services.
“If the federal government is going to detain children by themselves, they have to provide them with legal services and other services to help find their families, to identify their needs and make sure they are taken care of,” Sakimura said.
The requirement is because of a bi-partisan law passed in 2023, which was partially in response to the first Trump administration’s actions that separated immigrant children from their parents.
While LSC considers taking legal action, this legal office and others across the state are trying to figure out how to operate amidst a massive cut in funding.
“The amount of people that this whole stop work order has impacted is in the thousands,” Arzaga said. “We work within a network of multiple legal service providers.”
The organization will continue representing their current clients whose cases are circulating through immigration courts pro-bono for as long as possible.
They’re also reaching out to generous financial supporters who have helped over the years. However, they realize those donors are also being stretched thin because of so many other groups facing funding cuts.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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