Estrella del Paso Condemns Termination of Unaccompanied Children’s Program
March 21, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 21, 2025 Contact: Sandra Ramirez, SRamirez@estrella.org | 915-539-2855
Estrella del Paso Condemns Termination of Unaccompanied Children’s Program
El Paso, TX – Today, Estrella del Paso received a near complete termination of work on its Unaccompanied Children’s Program cutting off legal representation to children. The only services that remain are know your rights presentations and legal screenings. However, without the ability to provide legal representation to children, the value of the know your rights and legal screenings is significantly diminished. The current contract was executed for a full year award totaling approximately $3.7 million. Today’s order terminated approximately 80 percent of the total funding for Estrella del Paso for unaccompanied children, representing nearly 50 percent of the agency’s total budget. As a result of today’s termination order, Estrella del Paso had to immediately place 18 staff members on furlough. Another 4 staff members have temporarily reassigned. The team of 30 individuals has now been reduced to 6.
“Today’s decision flies in the face of our values as Americans. Children are precious, and as Americans, we have honored our responsibility to protect them for generations. Today’s action by the Trump Administration will result in thousands of children being forced to navigate the immigration legal system alone. This order will not stop our work. We will continue to advocate on behalf of children and the entire immigrant community in El Paso and beyond. We will also not abandon the employees who were placed on furlough today. We will continue to fight for full restoration of the program so our team will soon be back to work advocating for immigrant children,” said Melissa M. Lopez, Executive Director at Estrella del Paso.
This decision sets back the work of advocacy for unaccompanied children nearly 30 years to a time when a class action was filed to protect the rights of immigrant children.
“If it true that this administration wants people to do things ‘the right way,’ cutting this program completely undermines that goal because what this program does is give children a voice and a pathway to lawfully immigrate to the United States,” said Imelda Maynard, Legal Director at Estrella del Paso. Maynard added, “If you are truly pro-life, then that would include the defense of all children.”
Estrella del Paso is actively providing 1,224 services to unaccompanied children in the El Paso area. In 2024, Estrella del Paso’s Unaccompanied Minors Program provided nearly 9,000 services to children in ORR custody.
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