{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases/casar-demands-investigations-process-legal-services-unaccompanied-children", "Casar Demands Investigations in Process for Legal Services for Unaccompanied Children", "2026-09-28", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Greg Casar", "C001131", "casar.house.gov", "casar", "https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-TX) led two separate letters demanding investigations and transparency from the Office of Refugee Resettlement\u2019s process for providing legal services to unaccompanied children.\n\nCongressman Casar, as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement, sent a letter to the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services T. March Bell requesting an investigation into the ORR process for issuing contracts to organizations providing legal services to unaccompanied children.\n\nCongressman Casar raised concerns with the ORR process issuing contracts, writing: \u201cUnder current law, ORR is required to ensure that the legal services provided to unaccompanied children are \u201cqualified and independent.\u201d ORR actions over the last year and a half indicate the agency is not serious about providing legal representation to children and may be working to expedite the deportation of unaccompanied minors. These actions raise significant legal and ethical concerns that must be investigated.\u201d\n\nCongressman Casar wrote in the letter: \u201cORR\u2019s previous attempts to remove unaccompanied children without due process demonstrates the Trump Administration\u2019s disregard for these children\u2019s legal rights. A failure to provide quality legal services will lead to vulnerable children who have a right to remain in the U.S. being deported to potentially dangerous and unstable environments.\u201d\n\nRead the full letter here.\n\nAdditionally, Congressman Casar and Congressman Joaquin Castro co-led a letter, signed by 60+ Members of Congress, to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Office of Refugee Resettlement Acting Director Angie Salazar demanding transparency in its process for awarding contracts to organizations providing legal representation to unaccompanied children.\n\nThe group of lawmakers slammed the Secretary and Acting Director for awarding organizations, such as the Burke Law Group, without experience and expertise, jeopardizing the wellbeing of migrant children.\n\nThe members demanded a more transparent process for awarding experienced organizations to represent unaccompanied children, writing, \"Burke Law Group and Our Rescue lack experience, proficiency, and capacity to appropriately implement essential legal services to thousands of unaccompanied children. We are gravely concerned that ORR would entrust a vulnerable population with firms so plainly unqualified for the task. We urge ORR to find the best organizations to handle this contract through a competitive, public process.\u201d\n\nThe members criticized no-bid contracts awarded to firms that were connected to the president, writing, \u201cThe Trump administration has made a practice of issuing awards based on politics and cronyism rather than the public interest. We are not surprised that leadership in both Burke Law Group and Our Rescue includes individuals who previously served in various roles during the first Trump administration. Derek Benner, the current CEO of Our Rescue, previously served as the Executive Associate Director for Homeland Security Investigations during the first Trump administration. Children's legal protections should never be the currency of political patronage.\u201d", 1, "2026-10-01T11:23:28Z", "2026-10-01T11:25:15Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases/casar-demands-investigations-process-legal-services-unaccompanied-children"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4161039143800735, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}