CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy was set to receive $900,000 in annual funding from Acacia in a contract renewing on April 1. However, the majority of this contract was cancelled on March 21, effective immediately.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has terminated nearly all of the legal work by the Acacia Center for Legal Justice.
Acacia contracts with the government to provide legal services through its network of providers around the country to unaccompanied immigrant children from a few months old to 17 years old, both by providing direct legal representation as well as conducting legal orientations — often referred to as “know your rights” clinics — to migrant children who cross the border alone and are in federal government shelters. The Advocacy Center can still provide “know your rights” clinics, but can no longer represent children when they go to immigration court.
“Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy currently has more than 300 active cases affected by this funding cut, impacting children who have suffered abuse, neglect, abandonment or other forms of harm. Without legal representation, these vulnerable children face insurmountable barriers to securing safety and stability. Terminating the Unaccompanied Children Program will leave hundreds of children defenseless in a complex legal system that was never designed for them to navigate alone. This decision is not just a bureaucratic shift — it is a direct attack on children’s rights and well-being.”
Kara Moskowitz, Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy
According to the Congressional Research Service in 2021, attorneys have a dramatic impact on children’s cases; immigration judges were almost 100 times more likely to grant legal relief to unaccompanied children with counsel than to those without.
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