Archive · 28 Jan 2026
UN condemns US cutting legal aid for migrant children
The United Nations is very upset because the United States government stopped giving free lawyers to children who come to the U.S. alone.
These children are trying to stay in the country, but the U.S. government made it harder for them.
The UN says this is not fair and breaks international rules.
A judge in the U.S. said the government should keep giving money for the lawyers, at least for now.
The UN also doesn't like that the U.S. wants to send these children back to their home countries, even if they might be in danger there.
The U.S. government hasn't said anything about what the UN thinks.
UN experts condemned the Trump administration's decision to cut legal aid for unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. immigration proceedings.
The U.S. Department of the Interior ordered legal service providers to stop working with the children and cut their funding in February.
A federal judge temporarily restored the funding for the program after the providers sued.
The UN experts called the deportations of these children unlawful and a breach of international human rights law.
The UN also condemned the administration's $2,500 offer to get the children to voluntarily leave the U.S.
- Who
- UN human rights experts and the Trump administration
- What
- Cutting legal aid for unaccompanied migrant children in US immigration proceedings
- When
- Decision made last year, condemned on Tuesday
- Where
- United States
- Why
- Part of Trump's immigration crackdown
- Organization
- United Nations
- Country
- United States
- Affected Group
- Unaccompanied migrant children
- Action
- Cut legal aid funding
- Legal Outcome
- Federal judge temporarily restored funding
- UN Stance
- Violation of children's rights
- US Policy
- Immigration crackdown
- UN Contact
- Ongoing with US government