EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to release $65 million in payments it has withheld since December to multiple legal aid organizations that represent unaccompanied migrant children, including Estrella del Paso.
According to court documents obtained by KFOX14/CBS4, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinz-Olguin ruled on Thursday that the government is ordered to release the funds it has withheld since December by 1 p.m. on Friday, including $765,000 it owes to the El Paso non-profit, Estrella del Paso.
Additionally, the judge ordered the government to file by 2 p.m. on Friday a declaration saying it has released the funds.
Estrella del Paso, a ministry of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, has provided legal services for thousands of migrants since the center was founded in 1986 and in 2007 began providing legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children.
In a statement to KFOX14/CBS4, Melissa Lopez, executive director of Estrella del Paso, said, “We are incredibly grateful for the Court’s decision to order the payment of our outstanding invoices by 12 noon PT on Friday, August 7, 2026. The Court saw clearly the government’s attempt to evade the injunction.”
However, Lopez said the ruling does not fully address service disruptions, stating, “Unfortunately, this decision does not restore the critical legal services to children that lapsed on July 31.”
The ruling comes after Estrella del Paso closed its Unaccompanied Children’s Program last week, which provided legal representation for children who arrived in the U.S. without a parent or guardian, after a federal contract funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide the services expired Friday night and no extended contract was made.
Estrella del Paso said the program had been funded by Congress for nearly two decades and currently represents 243 unaccompanied migrant children.
The July 31 deadline applied to other federal contracts across the country, potentially leaving more than 20,000 children to navigate the immigration court system without an attorney.
In March 2025, HHS announced that it was terminating nearly all legal work non-profits provide to unaccompanied migrant children as the Trump administration continues to seek to end protections for immigrant children, including federal legal aid for minors facing deportation.
As KFOX14/CBS4 previously reported, the closure came as the nonprofit said the federal government currently owes the organization more than $765,000 for services already provided, with a lack of reimbursements dating back to December 2025.
“That number will increase after invoices are submitted for work completed during the month of July. Without payment from the federal government, Estrella del Paso does not have the financial capacity to continue operating the Unaccompanied Children’s Program,” Lopez previously said.
The lack of reimbursements comes after Estrella del Paso and 10 other plaintiffs sued the Trump administration in 2025 to block the administration’s plans to defund legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children. In April 2025, a preliminary injunction by a California federal judge, Araceli Martinez-Olguín, ruled that legal services for unaccompanied children are required under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. The law requires the government to ensure unaccompanied immigrant minors receive counsel in immigration court.
Since then, the Trump administration has argued in court that government payments for legal services are not mandatory.
Meanwhile, Lopez said the organization is still waiting for more information from the government, stating, “We await the government’s update as to the steps being taken to ensure unaccompanied children receive the services they are legally entitled to receive.”
READ THE RULING:
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