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Small Texas law firm without immigration expertise set to receive $150M contract to represent unaccompanied migrant children

A logo is displayed on the doors to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building on May 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — The Trump administration is set to award a multimillion-dollar contract to a small Texas law firm without immigration expertise to provide legal representation for thousands of unaccompanied migrant children in government custody during immigration proceedings.

In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its intent to award the $150 million contract to Burke Law Group, a law firm headquartered in Houston, Texas.

The notice states the contract would “provide legal orientation, legal consultation, and attorney-of-record representation services for eligible unaccompanied alien children” during immigration proceedings and hearings before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services while the children remain in government custody.

The proposed award comes after legal service providers across the country have said that the administration has withheld $65 million in overdue fees from the previous contract, alleging it is an attempt to force them to turn over confidential information about the migrant children they represent.

Burke Law Group has 26 employees across eight offices, according to its website. None of the firm’s attorneys list immigration law as a practice area. Instead, their practices include administrative law, white-collar defense, commercial litigation, securities litigation and other areas.

ABC News reached out to the law firm for comment and did not immediately get a response.

In December 2023, the Acacia Center for Justice, an immigrant advocacy group, became the prime contract holder with HHS for the Unaccompanied Children Program, overseeing subcontracts with more than 100 service providers that provide legal representation to more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

A spokesperson with HHS previously told ABC News that its sub-agency, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), “offered Acacia the opportunity” to receive a new federal contract “based on requirements that include they provide the data on who they represent and that they bill [HHS] when they submit applications for immigration relief.” The HHS spokesperson said Acacia refused.

Legal services providers including Acacia have said that ORR was demanding “client-level data that is confidential and legally privileged.”

During the Trump administration, Acacia and many of its subcontracted groups have alleged that unaccompanied children and their sponsors are among those being targeted under the administration’s immigration crackdown.

In June, DHS agents visited the offices of several Washington-area nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children. Last year, ABC News reported that the administration was directing immigration agents to track down unaccompanied migrant children in the United States.

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How one Davis lab is trying to stop California’s golden mussel invasion

By CNN
Click here for updates on this story    DAVIS, California (KOVR) -- The first known detection of the invasive golden mussel in all of North America happened in California.This invasive species has prompted states of emergency, both in San Joaquin County, where they were found at the Port of Stockton, and in Yolo County, where they were found to have spread to the Port of West Sacramento. It's posing a huge threat to Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta waterways.It's threatening billions of dollars in losses for farmers and could choke California's water supply. Working to help stop it is the Davis-based Invasive Species Corporation, which is stepping up with a possible solution. Research scientist Brady Hirschfeld studies how to stop the rapid golden mussel invasion."It's really rewarding to be on this side of things," Hirschfeld said. "I'm really proud to be part of the solution to kill golden mussels."The patent-protected product being tested is zequanox, created first to kill other invasive zebra and quagga mussels. Now, it's being redeveloped and retested to root out the goldens, which are notoriously resilient and hard to kill.Also trying to slow down the spread is Pam Marrone."These mussels are ranked the top five worst invasive species on the planet, causing many billions of dollars of damage," Marrone said. "So we're really tackling a big problem. We're excited we can do that."She is working to get zequanox approved for full use in golden mussels."We're alone. In fact, we're the only company, I think, in the world that's actually tackling invasive species in water," Marrone said.How it works In the lab, the mussels are exposed to zequanox, where Marrone says, "they'll eat it, it'll slowly take effect and they'll die."Marrone noted that zequanox is biodegradable, with no impact on surrounding creatures and habitat."It doesn't harm fish or the native mollusks or anything, anything else," he said.The test subjects were collected in Stockton, and a local marina there will be the first site to test zequanox on golden mussels in the wild this fall.The city's port is ground zero for the delta invasion."Eradication is, in my opinion, unthinkable. They're here to stay," said San Joaquin County Supervisor Mario Gardea. "It's about mitigation."Gardea sits on a board committee to tackle golden mussels and said the response requires local, state and federal action."Anything that touches our delta, anything that has to do with water is going to be affected," he said.Golden mussels can eradicate fish populations and erode delta habitats, and California farmers could lose their water.Marrone said the impact on community members could mean water flows being stopped due to infestations.Next steps involve getting zequanox approved for use in golden mussels through the California Environmental Protection Agency and hoping to get this rolled out in local waterways next year, possibly sooner, if California approves an emergency use.Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
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