{"id":396394,"date":"2026-08-03T13:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T13:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/396394\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T13:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T13:20:10","slug":"estrella-de-el-paso-closes-legal-program-for-migrant-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/396394\/","title":{"rendered":"Estrella de El Paso closes legal program for migrant children"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report)<\/a> \u2014 Estrella del Paso, a full-service immigration legal aid agency\u00a0serving low-income immigrants and refugees, has shut down its legal program for unaccompanied migrant children after the Trump administration declined to renew its federal contract and withheld nearly $1 million in reimbursements for legal services the nonprofit says it already completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government is withholding close to a million dollars in payments for legal services that we already provided to unaccompanied children,\u201d Executive Director Melissa M. Lopez said in a statement Friday. \u201cWithout payment from the federal government, we simply can\u2019t operate this program.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tLawmakers fear child deportations ramping up in Texas\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The program officially closed Friday, July 31, leaving 13 employees without jobs and jeopardizing legal representation for hundreds of migrant children in the immigration courts in the area. Currently, Estrella El Paso represents about 243 unaccompanied migrant children in court.<\/p>\n

Lopez added that the federal administration is \u201cdemanding confidential client information that has no right to,\u201d and that \u201cthey will not breach their legal or ethical obligations as attorneys by disclosing confidential information.\u201d<\/p>\n

For nearly 20 years, Congress has funded legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children, many of whom fled violence, trafficking, or persecution. Estrella del Paso said those services are required under federal law and help children navigate the complex immigration court system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an ethical, legal and moral obligation to continue representing these children,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cWith or without money from the federal government, we must do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estrella del Paso said the federal government currently owes the organization nearly $1 million for legal work already completed under its contract. That amount is expected to increase once the nonprofit submits invoices for services provided in July.<\/p>\n

According to the organization, the dispute extends beyond El Paso. Estrella del Paso said the administration has withheld approximately $65 million in payments owed to a nationwide network of more than 90 nonprofit legal service providers that represent unaccompanied migrant children.<\/p>\n

Lopez said the loss of funding threatens to dismantle decades of specialized experience serving traumatized children.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the course of 20 years, this network of legal service providers has developed a unique level of expertise working with children who have experienced trauma,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know what happens to children who go to court without an attorney. In one word, it is deportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nonprofit said children who appear in immigration court without legal representation rarely succeed in their cases. It estimates more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children nationwide could be affected by the funding dispute.<\/p>\n

Despite the closure of the program, Lopez said Estrella del Paso intends to continue representing its current clients and appealed to the community for support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need your help to make sure we keep our doors open and continue to see through our responsibility to these children,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tVisit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border \t<\/a><\/p>\n

Lopez added that children without a lawyer win the right to stay less than 1% of the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The federal government has not publicly responded to Estrella del Paso\u2019s latest announcement. <\/p>\n

Aracely Lazcano can be reached at alazcano@borderreport.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) \u2014 Estrella del Paso, a full-service immigration legal aid agency\u00a0serving low-income immigrants and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-396394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}