Texas law firm awarded $150M contract to represent 24,000 immigrant children

Key facts

• The Burke Law Group, a 26-employee firm, received a $150 million contract from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
• The contract is to represent approximately 24,000 unaccompanied children in immigration court.
• The contract replaces a previous agreement with the Acacia Center for Justice, which had its funding withheld.
• The Burke Law Group's website does not list immigration law as an area of expertise for its lawyers.
• The federal government is required to facilitate legal counsel for unaccompanied children under a 2008 law.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has awarded a $150 million contract to The Burke Law Group, a 26-employee Texas law firm, to represent approximately 24,000 unaccompanied children in immigration court. This contract, effective through August of next year, replaces a previous arrangement with the Acacia Center for Justice, which had its federal funding withheld by the government.

The dispute with Acacia and its subcontractors, which included major nonprofits like Kids in Need of Defense, arose after the administration demanded sensitive client information. These organizations had previously represented nearly 20,000 children.

The Burke Law Group, which describes itself as a "boutique" firm known for high-stakes litigation, environmental, regulatory, and corporate matters, has lawyers who do not list immigration law as a specialty, according to a review of the firm's website. The federal government is mandated under a 2008 anti-human trafficking law to facilitate legal counsel for children arriving in the U.S. alone.

This shift in representation comes after a contentious relationship between the Trump administration and immigration-focused nonprofits. An earlier attempt by HHS to cancel contracts in 2025 was stalled by litigation, but the administration proceeded to withhold payments at the end of 2025. The new contract is a single-source cooperative agreement, which theoretically allows The Burke Law Group to subcontract work to other firms or legal defense groups at its discretion.