Nonprofit aid groups providing free legal and social services to unaccompanied immigrant children being held in federal detention centers received notices Friday that most of their government contracts were being canceled.
The groups provide a range of services, such as representing children in court during deportation proceedings, monitoring conditions in detention facilities, and connecting their young clients with family members they may have in the United States.
The groups temporarily had their funding frozen in February, but Friday’s notices informed them most of their contracts with the federal government were being outright canceled.
Cathy Sakimura, the executive director for Legal Services for Children in San Francisco, said the funding cuts will be devastating for the children in their care.
“We are talking about some of the most vulnerable children who have gone through traumatic journeys to come to this country,” Sakimura said. “Perhaps lost their parents along the way, who are escaping violence, who have really no adult allies, potentially having to show up in court alone, not speaking English, not being able to understand what's happening to them in a scary setting.”
Sakimura said her organization will continue doing its best to represent their clients, but the federal contracts represent a significant chunk of their funding, and they won’t be able to carry on indefinitely without finding additional sources of financial support.
“We’re going to do our best for as long as we can to represent as many children as we can and to meet the obligations that we’ve made to them,” Sakimura said.
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