In March 2025, without advance warning, the Trump Administration terminated federal funding for legal representation services for unaccompanied immigrant children.  A group of legal service organizations that provide legal services to unaccompanied children filed this federal lawsuit to challenge the government’s termination of government-funded legal services for children. 

The district court granted a temporary restraining order and then a preliminary injunction barring the federal government from withdrawing federally funded legal services to unaccompanied children.  The federal government immediately appealed to the federal appeals court and also requested a stay (pause) on the district court’s preliminary injunction.  The federal appeals court denied the federal government’s request for a stay, as well as the government’s request for rehearing en banc.  The appeal is pending.     

The Young Center and the law firm of Moeel Lah Fakhoury LLP filed an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief in both the district court and the appeals court in opposition to the Trump Administration’s termination of legal representation services for unaccompanied immigrant children; the brief discussed the profound harm that termination of legal services had and will have on the safety and well-being of children.

More about the case can be found on Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto’s  website

• Complaint: Filed 3/26/25
  • Young Center Amicus Brief, N.D. Cal
     Filed 4/10/25
  • Young Center Amicus Brief, 9^th Circuit
      Filed 6/20/25