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This article was originally published by The Lever, an investigative newsroom. If you like this story, sign up for The Lever’s free newsletter.

The Trump administration is withholding pay from legal aid groups while demanding they share confidential case data about unaccompanied migrant children fighting to remain in the country, according to records reviewed by The Lever.

For months, the records show, the primary legal services provider for unaccompanied migrant youth has been locked in a standoff with the federal government over these unprecedented demands, which advocates say would represent a breach of attorney-client privilege and could put vulnerable children at risk.

As a result, legal clinics across the country that provide a critical lifeline to migrant children, shepherding them through the byzantine immigration court system that they would otherwise face on their own, have not been paid for their work since December, threatening their existence.

At the same time, immigration courts are using novel tactics to hasten deportations, including in cases involving children, straining lawyers’ resources, immigration lawyers tell The Lever. Such government efforts have reportedly picked up in recent weeks, including the use of “mega” hearings to expedite deportation proceedings.

The developments could threaten the safety of migrant children, already an incredibly vulnerable population, lawyers and advocates say. Without legal support, children would be forced to fend for themselves against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lawyers calling for their deportation. And if the federal government is handed granular data about children’s legal defense, their cases could be undermined.

ICE Separated 145,000 Children From Their Parents Since 2025, Study Estimates

“There’s this whole-of-government approach right now, it seems, to target children,” said Michael Lukens, the executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. “What they’re trying to do is get a workaround to get the information that we don’t want to give them about our child clients.”

“I Consider This a War on Children”

In the United States, if you are charged with a crime and cannot afford a lawyer, you are guaranteed a public defender. This is not the case in immigration court, even for young children who arrive in the country alone. More than a third of unaccompanied immigrant children do not have a lawyer to represent them in deportation proceedings.

Congress has in the past made some attempts to address this problem. In 2008, lawmakers passed legislation requiring the government to provide lawyers for migrant children “to the greatest extent practicable.” After this mandate, the Unaccompanied Children Program, which provides protections to migrant children, began to fund more robust legal services for child clients. The federal program now disburses funds to a constellation of nonprofits and law firms across the country that represent children.

The Unaccompanied Children Program is funded by the Office of Refugee........

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