WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizations that give legal assistance to children who came to the U.S. alone said agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Health and Human Services tried to enter their offices in what the groups described as part of a campaign to intimidate legal services providers. Because of the special vulnerability of children, the U.S. government has historically provided legal help to migrant children who came to the U.S. without a parent or guardian. But the second Trump administration has attempted to cut funding to the network of non-governmental legal groups that provide legal help at the same time the administration has taken other steps that advocates say amounts to an attack on immigrant children.Three organizations that provide legal aid to children said in news releases Friday that agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of ICE, and the Office of the Inspector General at U.S. Health and Human Services tried to gain access to their Washington D.C.-area offices, including Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Ayuda, and Kids in Need of Defense.
The inspector general’s office said in a statement that they generally don’t confirm nor deny the existence of ongoing investigations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed requests to the Justice Department which directed them to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which falls under Health and Human Services. That department did not respond to a request for comment.
