Senators to RFK Jr.: Why Was a Trump-Aligned Firm with No Immigration Experience Granted No-Bid Contract to Represent Unaccompanied Children

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, alongside Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. demanding he explain why the Trump administration awarded a no-bid contract to a Trump-aligned law firm with no apparent immigration law experience, allowing them to represent unaccompanied children who are in the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

"Given the political connections between the firm's senior leadership and the Trump administration, we have concerns about why you sidestepped the competitive bidding process to select this firm to provide legal services for children who are in ORR care and custody, and demand transparency into whether all federal procurement processes were followed," the senators wrote. "Children deserve competent representation by attorneys who practice at the intersection of child welfare and federal immigration law, but Americans also deserve to know why their federal dollars are being doled out to Trump's friends and allies."

The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through ORR, has an obligation to ensure that unaccompanied children are provided competent legal aid as they navigate the immigration process. Despite this, Secretary Kennedy has cut legal service funding for 26,000 unaccompanied children, shifting funding to the Trump-aligned Burke Law Group, despite the firm's lack of experience protecting the rights of immigrant children.

"The firm appears to have little relevant experience with the legal and practical challenges that children face, raising serious concerns about the firm's ability to provide not just representation but adequate, zealous representation," the senators added. "Within hours of the notice in the Federal Register, the firm appears to have updated their website to include content about immigrant youth that didn't exist on the website the previous day. At best, this is concerning, and at worst, it is a part of a coordinated scheme to paper over the firm's lack of experience."

Burke Law Group's inexperience in the area of the law they have been contracted to perform could result in serious harm for the nearly 2,000 children in ORR's care. The firm itself employs 26 people in total, adding an additional concern about the firm's capacity to provide adequate legal representation to innocent children, let alone its competency to do so. Instead, the only clear outcome of this contracting award is that another Trump-aligned business will receive millions from the Trump administration.

In the letter, the senators demanded that Secretary Kennedy provide transparency as to why the Burke Law Group received this contract and details about the firm's plans to provide legal assistance to unaccompanied children.

Full text of the letter is available here.