HOUSTON — The Trump administration plans to award a $150 million contract to Houston-based Burke Law Group to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children, according to a notice scheduled for publication in the Federal Register this week.
The proposed contract would run for one year starting Aug. 15, according to the notice.
Burke Law Group has ties to the Trump administration. Marcella Burkey, one of the firm’s founders, previously served as a Trump appointee at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior.
Jeffrey Hall, another founding partner and former employee of the firm, received Senate confirmation late last year for a position at the EPA.
The planned contract comes days after the federal government allowed a legal-services agreement with a network of nearly 100 organizations to expire Friday.
The government had not paid the organizations for more than six months before the contract expired, according to reports on the matter.
The new contract would provide legal representation for unaccompanied children who enter the U.S. immigration system without a parent or legal guardian.