The Trump administration is set to award a $150 million contract to Burke Law Group, a small Houston law firm, to provide legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children who cross the border without a parent or guardian, NPR reported on August 5, 2026. The contract would run for one year, starting August 15 (Houston Public Media).

The NPR report, by Sergio Martínez-Beltrán and Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered, noted that Burke Law Group has ties to the Trump administration. ABC News described the firm as small and said it lacks immigration expertise.

The contract falls under the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. ORR oversees the care of unaccompanied migrant children — those under 18 who arrive without a parent or guardian. ORR policy requires that it and its funded care providers act in the best interests of these children and that children be released to parents, guardians, relatives, or people designated by the child's parents. ORR may also fund legal service providers to give direct immigration representation and related services to these children.

ORR has separately announced a funding opportunity for public and private non-profit organizations to run its Placement and Coordination Program, which handles initial resettlement and intensive case management for the children. Applications are due by September 17, 2026, and are posted on grants.gov.

ORR also runs the Unaccompanied Alien Children Office of Ombudsman, or UACOO, an independent and confidential office where children, their families, and others can raise concerns. Policies governing that office were updated in July 2026.

The broader context here is the gap between the size of the contract and the firm's stated experience. A $150 million, one-year federal contract for direct immigration legal representation is substantial. The selection of a firm described as lacking immigration expertise raises operational questions about capacity, training, and compliance with ORR's best-interests framework. The August 15 start date leaves little transition time. How Burke Law Group scales to meet the mandate, and how ORR oversees performance against its existing policies, will be the key operational metrics to watch.