Before an Arizona judge, a 17-year-old girl and her baby appeared for an asylum claim, without a lawyer, a situation that has become more frequent in the United States since the Trump administration tried to cut public funding for legal aid for unaccompanied minors.

"I have been doing this job for ten years and I have never known a period as serious as this one with regard to the concerted offensive of the government against children," denounces Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu of Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, one of the associations affected.

In 2025, Donald Trump wanted to cut funding to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). This agency funds a national network of organizations that provide legal assistance to unaccompanied minors in foster care or under the care of authorities.

This measure was blocked by a federal judge, but the government nevertheless stopped its payments. The administration also terminated its contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, which oversaw about a hundred organizations.

Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu was the one who spotted the case of this teenager and her child in an Arizona court in August. "The baby was running around throwing toys and crying, and the mother had to concentrate on the hearing," she said.

This case reminds her of the one in 2018 when a baby of a few months old had to appear in court. "We had to say that the baby disputed the accusations against him (...) it's completely absurd but it's part of the procedure," she added.

According to CNN, 25 children, some without lawyers, found themselves before an immigration judge, this time in Texas.

- "Security" -

According to Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, public funding had become conditional on the transmission of confidential information concerning the people represented by the network, approximately 20,000 children.

"We were unable to do so, which is why they cut funding for six months," she added, claiming that this was "contrary to the ethical rules" of lawyers.

The administration then wanted to entrust asylum applications to the Burke Law Group, whose founder was part of Donald Trump's government during his first term.

She also appealed to Our Rescue, an organization founded by Donald Trump’s former advisor on the issue of child sexual exploitation and now run by a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigator.

This contract was suspended in response to questions raised by Congress regarding federal funds.

In a letter to the government this week, Democratic lawmakers expressed their "deep concern" about entrusting "a vulnerable population to companies manifestly incapable of fulfilling this mission."

"The legal protection of children should never be used as a bargaining chip in political patronage," they added.

In a statement to AFP, the ORR confirmed that it had allocated funds for the remainder of the year to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). This organization "is 100% present at hearings and has expanded its services to offer advice, consultations, and direct legal representation."

Bilal Askaryar, director of communications at Acacia Center for Justice, for his part deplored this choice, adding that the USCRI had far fewer lawyers than the 800 in its network.

"For us, this is not a contract. This is not a dispute between an organization and the government. This is about 20,000 children who arrived in the United States seeking safety," he stated.