{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://castro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/castrocasarlead60democratsdemandinganswers-onsecuringlegalrepresentationforunaccompanied-children", "Castro,\u00a0Casar\u00a0Lead\u00a060+\u00a0Democrats\u00a0Demanding\u00a0Answers on\u00a0Securing\u00a0Legal\u00a0Representation\u00a0for\u00a0Unaccompanied Children", "2026-09-28", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Joaquin Castro", "C001091", "castro.house.gov", "castro", "https://castro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "\u201cChildren's Legal Protections Should Never Be The Currency Of Political Patronage\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Congressman Greg Casar led (TX-35) 61 House Democrats in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Acting Director Angie Salazar demanding transparency in its process for awarding contracts to organizations providing legal representation to unaccompanied children. In August, the Burke Law Group, a firm with Trump Administration ties, declined a $150 million no-bid contract only after public scrutiny. The group of lawmakers slammed the Secretary and Acting Director for awarding organizations, such as the Burke Law Group, without relevant experience and expertise, resulting in putting migrant children at risk.\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. Weurge ORR to find the best organizations to handle this contract through a competitive, public process.\"\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 in 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\n\nThe lawmakers demanded answers about ORR\u2019s current contracts by September 25, 2026.\n\nMembers who signed the letter include: Reps. Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Greg Casar (TX-35), Nanette Barrag\u00e1n (CA-44), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Andr\u00e9 Carson (IN-07), Judy Chu (CA-28), Gilbert Cisneros (CA-31), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), J. Correa (CA-46), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Christopher Deluzio (PA-17), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Bill Foster (IL-11), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Jes\u00fas Garc\u00eda (IL-04), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Daniel Goldman (NY-10), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Pablo Hern\u00e1ndez (PR), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Henry Johnson (GA-04), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Summer Lee (PA-12), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Eleanor Norton (DC), Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Luz Rivas (CA-29), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Janice Schakowsky (IL-09), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Norma Torres (CA-35), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (NY-07), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Frederica Wilson (FL-24).\n\nRead the full letter here.", 1, "2026-09-29T11:07:12Z", "2026-09-29T11:08:49Z"]], "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://castro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/castrocasarlead60democratsdemandinganswers-onsecuringlegalrepresentationforunaccompanied-children"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.475734869018197, "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"}