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As many of you know, MIRC has been proud to serve alongside a national network of passionate and qualified legal service providers who support unaccompanied children. Over the past several years, MIRC has represented every unaccompanied child in federal custody in Michigan. This year alone, we have served 1,100 children. On August 1, the federal contract supporting these services ended. See below for more information about how this will impact children and families in Michigan, our services, and what you can do, including making a donation so our staff can continue defending children in court.
Background
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In 2008, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPRA) with bipartisan support. This law set forth requirements for the federal government to establish the Unaccompanied Children Program, and protect children from trafficking, abuse, and exploitation. Critical to this protection was providing children in and released from federal custody with legal services to protect their rights.
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Last year the Trump administration attempted to end the federal funding that ensures unaccompanied immigrant children will have a lawyer by their side when they go to court. Thankfully, through litigation that funding was partially restored. However, that contract ended July 31 and the federal government did not put in place a new contract with the current network of providers. The government has, however, awarded a new contract to a Texas-based law firm. It is unclear what services this firm will provide. Additionally, the government has not paid providers like MIRC since November 2025 for services we have provided according to our contract.
- We greatly appreciated your support last year as we faced the federal government’s efforts to end funding for the unaccompanied children’s program. Unfortunately, the attacks on children have not relented. In addition to cutting legal services, the administration has changed policies so that children can be deported faster and with less scrutiny.
What This Means for Michigan
- MIRC currently has 948 open children’s cases in Michigan. We are making very difficult decisions about each child’s case. Without federal funding, we cannot continue every case. We are wrapping up services where we can, closing some cases, and not accepting new children’s cases for the near future.
- With the instability in funding over the past year and a half, it has been challenging for our team, but thanks to our many supporters, we weathered the past year. However, without a new federal contract, we face very severe financial challenges to sustain our staff. We have about 70 staff who may not be able to continue past October, and our capacity to take new children’s cases will be extremely limited.
- We remain committed to defending children’s rights and are doing our best to ethically maintain as many of our current children’s cases as possible. We will be able to keep about 420 of our current children’s cases.
- We deeply appreciate our local funders who have allowed us to maintain all our children’s cases in Kalamazoo and cases under the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program.
- The loss of our children’s funding will not affect our other funded programs, and we will continue to have offices in Detroit, Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Lansing. Importantly, we will also continue our dedicated services for individuals in immigration detention and facing deportation.
Who This Affects
Every day, we sit across from kids who have endured what no child ever should – violence, trafficking, abuse – and who have come here seeking safety. They arrive frightened, alone, and often unable to understand the language, the legal system, or what will happen to them next. For many, a MIRC lawyer is the first adult whose sole responsibility is to protect their rights, explain the process, and ensure their story is heard. Taking that away doesn't make the system more efficient, it abandons vulnerable children. The young people we serve have been through so much.
- One young man in federal care from the Caribbean experienced horrific abuse, trafficking, and neglect in his country of origin. While his applications were pending, he was wrongfully detained by ICE. Our team fiercely advocated for his case using tools that are only available to attorneys. He would have been returned to a life of persecution, even death, without MIRC’s representation.
- Another young client is 7 years old. He was abandoned on the side of a road by a family member, and the stranger who found him trafficked him into the U.S.. As a victim of trafficking, he is eligible to apply for certain immigration relief. However, due to the child’s young age, he is not able to fully recount details of the experience, and our attorneys have worked carefully to gather information from law enforcement and other sources to support his case without retraumatizing him. If he is separated from his attorney, he may have no chance to apply for protection.
- One of our recent clients was a 14 year-old placed in removal proceedings after escaping a sex trafficking ring in Texas where she was beaten and forced to have sex with older men. Our team pursued a trafficking visa for the child and after 9 years she now has her green card.
The clients in all these cases were young and vulnerable. Children are children, regardless of their nationality, and our law and our values require us to act in their best interest. We know that children seeking asylum and other immigration protections are incredibly resilient but have experienced trauma and need a supportive environment. We will continue to provide the best quality legal services we can to help ensure they have the safety and care they need to thrive.
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