Judges Deny Trump Admin’s Bid for Review in Unaccompanied Children Aid Funding Case

Ten judges dissented from the Ninth Circuit’s decision to deny rehearing en banc.

Children ages 3 to 9 at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, on March 30, 2021. Dario Lopez-Mills/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Federal judges on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s request for an en banc review—a hearing before the full court—to rehear its appeal to reinstate funding cuts on nonprofit organizations providing legal services to unaccompanied illegal immigrant children.

The case follows a March 21 lawsuit filed by 11 nonprofit legal service providers, challenging the administration’s move to terminate a contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, through which they received funding to offer legal representation to illegal immigrant children who entered the United States without a parent or guardian.