A Houston law firm with limited immigration expertise is poised to secure a $150 million federal contract to provide legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children in government custody, according to a notice scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Thursday, August 6, 2026.
Burke Law Group, which describes itself on its website as specializing in advising "companies on complex environmental, regulatory, and enforcement matters," employs 24 attorneys, only two of whom focus on immigration and asylum cases. The firm's selection has drawn sharp criticism from organizations that previously handled such representation.
The contract addresses a decades-old legal requirement for the federal government to protect migrant children who arrive in the United States without guardians. These minors face significant risks of exploitation, abuse, and trafficking. Some children are too young to speak, and without proper legal counsel, deportation becomes virtually certain.
Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, who serves in a deputy director role at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, a nonprofit that previously provided services to unaccompanied minors, criticized the decision. "Instead of taking care of these children, the government is instead implementing things such as awarding a contract to a private small law firm in Texas with no discernible experience in relevant immigration law or child welfare," Avila-Cimpeanu told NPR.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which is awarding the contract, did not respond to requests for comment. Burke Law Group similarly declined to respond to multiple inquiries by phone and email.
Political Connections Raise Questions
The Houston firm has notable ties to the Trump administration. Marcella Burke, a co-founder of Burke Law Group, held positions in the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department during President Trump's first term. Jeffrey Hall, a founding partner, currently holds an assistant administrator position at the EPA.
When Hall faced confirmation proceedings, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, raised concerns about the appointment. In his opening statement, Whitehouse wrote that "Mr. Hall's work on 'environmental' matters at Burke Law Group focused on tearing down statutory protections meant to guarantee clean air and clean water, seeking to limit EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act, and gutting greenhouse gas regulations that protect against poisonous emissions."
The EPA did not respond to requests seeking comment from Hall.
Coverage Gaps and Funding Disputes
The proposed contract covers approximately 1,800 children currently housed in shelters, according to nonprofits that briefed reporters on Wednesday. However, nearly 22,000 children who are not in HHS shelters remain without clear legal representation plans.
The award follows the expiration of a contract with a coalition of nearly 100 legal nonprofits that ended on Friday, August 1, 2026. The Trump administration ceased payments to those organizations in November 2025 after attorneys refused to surrender confidential information about their child clients.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Michael Lukens, who leads the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights as executive director, explained that the requested information fell under attorney-client privilege. "HHS's insistence on this data — I truly believe that whoever signs contracts with HHS is going to agree in their contract to turn over this data," Lukens told NPR.
The legal nonprofits assert the federal government owes them $65 million, and litigation over this dispute remains ongoing.
According to Lukens, "technically nobody in the country has a contract with HHS to provide services to kids." The Burke Law Group contract is scheduled to begin on August 15, 2026, creating a two-week gap in coverage.
Despite the funding cutoff, nonprofits have maintained services to vulnerable children. Lukens indicated that his organization and others are continuing their work without compensation "because that is our mission and our ethical obligation." These groups plan to sustain operations at no charge until their remaining resources are exhausted.
Acacia Center for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that held the contract through July 31, 2026, issued a statement Wednesday emphasizing that any successor organization "must have the deep experience required to navigate our country's complex immigration system and the training to work with vulnerable children, many of whom fled violence, trafficking, and abuse to come to this country."
