Mexico-born judge orders Trump admin. to restore legal aid to unaccompanied illegal alien children

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for programs that offer free legal aid to unaccompanied illegal alien children, the latest move by a left-wing judicial activist to nullify the will of voters.

San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the cutting off of money to the legal services after the administration terminated a contract with the left-wing Acacia Center for Justice, which provides funding for legal counsel for foreign kids under the age of 18 through a network of subcontracting groups.

Eleven of the subcontractors ran to a sympathetic judge to file a lawsuit, claiming that 26,000 migrant children were in danger of losing their legal representation. The Acacia Center is not among the plaintiffs. The groups said that the federal government is obligated to provide the taxpayer-funded freebies to non-citizens under a 2008 anti-human trafficking law.

BREAKING: Federal judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin (Biden appointee) in the Northern District of California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating funding for legal counsel for unaccompanied migrant minors. She has issued a temporary restraining order that will stop… pic.twitter.com/YrUII0qbR6

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 2, 2025

In her Tuesday ruling, the Biden appointee said that the groups “have suffered near-immediate financial impacts, and they have thus made a sufficient showing of concrete and imminent economic injury.”

“The irreparable harm resulting from Defendants’ actions weighs in favor of temporary injunctive relief,” wrote Martínez-Olguín, a Mexican-born former immigration attorney who was confirmed in February 2023.

She said that the administration’s removal of funding is direct interference with the groups’ purpose, “impeding their ability to provide the direct legal representation of unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings.”

“The Court additionally finds that the continued funding of legal representation for unaccompanied children promotes efficiency and fairness within the immigration system,” Martínez-Olguín said.

“The temporary restraining order issued by the court affirms what we know to be true – ending representation for more than 26,000 unaccompanied children not only would cause irreparable harm but stands in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which protects children who have already experienced unimaginable harm from additional mistreatment, abuse, exploitation or trafficking,” the Acacia Center said in a statement.

X users reacted to the ruling with outrage.

So now a federal judge has the power to order the federal govt to spend money on lawyers for people who don’t belong here? Sounds like a judicial tyranny to me

— ℝℕ ℕ (@Rust_And_Decay) April 2, 2025

These are not judges, they are activists.

— Joe Ziskey (@JZiskey) April 2, 2025

The federal judge restored aid to people who are trafficking children.

No need for children to be in a different country without their parent.

— Conservative Cali (@WestMonstie) April 2, 2025

Start an investigation into her affiliations with the Mexican cartels. If she still has family in Mexico I guarantee that every Cartel knows that and uses that to push their agendas.

— bob smith (@SmithBob2001) April 2, 2025

But they never worried WHERE the 320,000 Missing Migrant children are for the last 4 yrs. Make it make sense.

— Christy (@ChristyRiz3) April 2, 2025

So their parents violated immigration law and we have to pay for their legal defense?

— Tesp (@Therealtesp) April 2, 2025

Deport that judge to an El Salvadoran prison

— Elijah Young (@elijah_you44891) April 2, 2025

The order was another of the nationwide injunctions imposed as the anti-Trump resistance turns to lawfare and its allies on the federal bench in his second term. The orders are coming fast and furious with unethical lawyers and activist judges emboldened by the Supreme Court’s inexplicable refusal to act forcefully to stop the abuse.

Staff Writer

Chris Donaldson is an ordinary American who is concerned about rampant corruption as well as the ongoing attacks on our way of life by those who have contempt for our hard-earned freedoms. A Navy veteran, he has been a frequent contributor to conservative websites and resides in Florida.

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