A small Houston-based law firm announced this week that it had withdrawn itself from consideration for a federal contract, worth up to $150 million, to facilitate legal representation for unaccompanied minors.
Last week, President Donald Trump’s administration quietly unveiled its intent to award the firm a contract to provide legal services — quickly prompting backlash from advocates, as Burke Law Group seemed to have little experience in immigration law before the contract was published. This week, both the law firm and the Office of Refugee Resettlement backed away from the no-bid contract.
“We were approached by the Trump administration to fill a gap in legal services and we were considering how we might help,” Burke Law Group wrote in a Tuesday statement addressing “false reporting” about its involvement, adding that the firm was “only considering applying for a small portion” of the $150 million contract.
The ORR is the Health and Human Service Department’s branch tasked with facilitating legal services for unaccompanied minors. The agency posted a notice on the Federal Register on Aug. 4 announcing its intent to award Burke Law Group the multimillion-dollar contract after the government’s previous contract expired that week.
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A spokesperson for ORR confirmed to NOTUS that Burke Law Group had declined to apply for a grant.
“On August 4, 2026, a Federal Register Notice was published to share ORR’s intent to enter into a cooperative agreement with Burke Law Group, PLLC, a private law firm with a strong geographic presence in Texas,” the ORR spokesperson wrote in the statement. “Burke Law Group has declined to apply and has not been awarded any grant with ORR. ORR has published notices in the Federal Register in an abundance of transparency regarding a potential grant recipient.”
Earlier versions of staff biographies indicated no one at the organization specialized in immigration law when the contract was first announced. Two profiles on the site were later updated to include “immigration and asylum” as specialties after initial reports about the contract were published.
Founder and managing partner Marcella Burke worked in President Donald Trump’s first administration, serving as deputy general counsel in the Environmental Protection Agency before moving to the Department of the Interior,
“The new firm has zero immigration lawyers, but is now trusted to represent 20,000 immigrant kids,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) posted on X last week. “Corruption — and you’re paying for it.”
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a refugee resettlement group and existing grantee, will provide legal services through the end of the year, ORR said. The group began providing legal representation for the agency on Aug. 5.
The federal government previously worked with Acacia Center for Justice, through which its legal teams, the organization said, had defended more than 20,000 children. Nonprofits recently sued HHS, alleging the government had stopped paying Acacia even though it still had a contract. A California federal judge last week ordered the federal government to pay over $65 million for the unpaid work.
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