McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A small Texas law firm with ties to the Trump administration declined a $150 million federal contract it was offered to represent migrant children traveling alone to the U.S., authorities said Wednesday, raising long-term questions about who would represent them. The administration last week announced plans to award the contract to the Burke Law Group, a Houston-based firm with little experience in immigration. The contract offer came as the administration ramps up its mass deportation campaign and after it let a key contract with nearly 100 providers working with immigrant children around the country expire at the end of July with no replacement. Unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody are being temporarily represented by another group, but it is unclear how things will shake out after its contract expires in December. A Wednesday statement from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the contracts, offered no insight into why Burke declined the offer.
“Burke Law Group has declined to apply and has not been awarded any grant,” the agency, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an emailed statement in response to a query about the contract. Burke Law Group published a short statement on social media Tuesday night saying it had considered applying for a “small portion” of the contract. It did not explain why it decided against it.
