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Estrella del Paso ordered to stop helping unaccompanied migrant children [1]

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Date: 2025-02-19

Groups that provide legal representation to unaccompanied migrant children were ordered to stop their work Tuesday – including Estrella del Paso, the Catholic Diocese organization that is currently working with some 2,000 children across West Texas and New Mexico.

“If we are not given access to these children, we absolutely expect that the number of children receiving deportation orders will go up,” Melissa M. Lopez, executive director of Estrella del Paso, said during a virtual news conference Wednesday. She said the expectation that children can represent themselves in a courtroom without an adult to help is “simply ludicrous.”

Jacob Wedemeyer, a managing attorney with Estrella’s Unaccompanied Children’s Program, called the order “irresponsible and reckless,” adding that it interferes with attorney-client duties and responsibilities.

Wedemeyer’s clients include Pedro and Elizabeth, the teen migrant siblings from Honduras who last month were arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Las Cruces and detained in the Otero County Processing Center for two weeks. The siblings, now 18 and 19, arrived in El Paso in early 2021 as unaccompanied minors, have pending asylum applications and are authorized to be in the country while they await their hearing.

Read more The Trump administration says it’s targeting criminals for deportation. ICE arrested these 2 Las Cruces teens as they headed to work. The apprehension by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of a brother and sister with pending asylum applications raises questions about the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, human rights advocates say.

“That situation is emblematic of what we’re talking about,” Lopez told El Paso Matters following the news conference. “Had that (arrest) happened today, we would be in an incredibly difficult situation weighing whether or not we could provide them services.”

Without representation, Lopez added, the siblings could have very well been deported. Lopez said the fear is also that children may be lost in the system – or abused and trafficked, which is in large part what the federal funding intended to prevent.

Without providing an explanation, the U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday sent a stop work order via email to Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that works with 85 organizations nationwide. The center holds a $1.1 billion contract with the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Children Program.

Unaccompanied minors are any migrant younger than 18 who arrives in the United States without a parent or guardian. The ORR encourages unaccompanied minors be reunited with their parents or appropriate adult relatives whenever possible. In other cases, placement options include foster or group homes.

Estrella del Paso, formerly El Paso Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services and

a subcontractor under Acacia, receives about $3 million a year to help unaccompanied minors. The organization’s unaccompanied minors program comprises seven attorneys, social workers and orientation specialists, among others.

Last year, Estrella del Paso saw more than 5,000 children in federal shelters.

“There are so many children in the region that we serve that need our representation that are now in jeopardy,” Lopez said.

One current case involves a teenage girl who, at 13, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and tortured in her home country before being rescued by her family, Estrella del Paso managing attorney Jorge Rodriguez said during the news conference.

Shortly after, her family, including her younger siblings, “were disappeared,” Rodriguez added. Alone and seeking safety, the girl came to the United States and is likely eligible for protections. She has court in a few weeks.

“And I can’t help her – none of my colleagues can help her,” Rodriguez said. “What she needs is someone to represent her and this order took that away from her.”

Another attorney recently met with a 9-year-old whose father was murdered in his home country. The boy crossed into the United States by himself and was placed in a federal shelter.

“I promised him I would be with him this week,” attorney Jamye Ward said. “Now I can’t meet with him.”

See Also Trump’s mass deportation plans have echoes of a 1950s federal crackdown that swept through Texas Seventy-one years after the Eisenhower administration launched a high-visibility operation to arrest undocumented immigrants, President Trump is following some of the same playbook.

For now, Lopez said attorneys with Estrella del Paso may continue to represent some children who are high-risk or have upcoming hearings only on a volunteer basis.

Wedemeyer said he’s ethically obligated to continue representing his clients one way or another.

“The problem with the stop-work order is that it interferes with our ethical orders,” Wedemeyer said. “We can’t just stop helping them now that we already represent them. We have to fulfill our ethical duties because we’re licensed attorneys.”

Lopez said she’s calling on the community for help while the organization figures out what to do next – which includes filing a lawsuit. Estrella del Paso is consulting with other organizations on the planned suit, and also looking for alternative funding options for now, she added.

The stop order comes after the Justice Department in January temporarily stopped funding contracts for groups that provide legal information and guidance to people facing deportation. The department rescinded its stop work order and restored funding after a coalition of advocacy groups, including Estrella del Paso, sued.

Lopez said that case is ongoing.

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[1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2025/02/19/unaccompanied-migrant-children-stop-work-estrella-del-paso/

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