The Firewall: Breaking News Dispatch
They Terminated the Lawyers for Children. Again.
“The way a government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadow of life—the sick, the needy and the handicapped—is the true measure of a nation.”
— Hubert H. Humphrey
“The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis.”
— Thurgood Marshall
On Friday afternoon, March 21, 2025, the MAGA regime—through the Office of Refugee Resettlement under Trump-appointed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—terminated Advokato's contract to provide legal representation to unaccompanied immigrant children facing deportation back to the countries they fled.
Again.
For the second time in as many months, we received notice that our work had been shut down. This time, it came under the cold bureaucratic euphemism of a "Termination for the Government's Convenience."
Let me be clear: this move is tantamount to taking away a child's parachute just before pushing them out of the airplane.
For twenty years, my life's work has been standing up in court on behalf of children who arrive in this country with nothing but a name and a story. Our nonprofit, Advokato, represents unaccompanied children in immigration court—children fleeing violence, trafficking, and poverty, often alone, almost always traumatized. We help them apply for asylum and other legal protections under U.S. law. Without us, they face trained prosecutors from the Department of Homeland Security alone.
Now, with access to lawyers stripped away, these children are being rushed through so-called "rocket dockets"—fast-tracked deportation hearings with no time to prepare, no meaningful access to justice, and no adult advocate by their side. All while DHS sends in high-paid prosecutors to argue for their removal.
This is not due process. This is a system rigged against children.
This is not hyperbole. A child with no lawyer, detained in a shelter, may now be deported to danger by a government attorney whose only job is to remove them. That's not justice. That's not America.
When the government targets lawyers who defend children, it is not acting in the interest of the law. It is acting in the interest of power.
Make no mistake: this is part of the broader campaign to erode human rights under the false flag of border security. It's not just a policy decision—it's a moral test. And we are failing it.
This isn’t only about immigration. This is about the very meaning of law, of advocacy, and of what we permit the state to do to the vulnerable when we aren’t looking. When a country builds the architecture of authoritarianism on the backs of immigrant children, it should not surprise us when that architecture is eventually turned against us all.
This is why I launched The Firewall.
We are here to witness and to warn. But also to act.
This is the moment where those who believe in human rights, in the rule of law, and in the promise of America must make a decision.
The Firewall is forming. And it will not be a passive endeavor. It will grow from a newsletter into a living, breathing resistance—a hub of organizing, strategizing, and building.
We will connect the people who know that the time to act is now. We will move institutions, hearts, and minds. And we will do everything in our power to ensure this country does not slide quietly into authoritarianism.
Because America was never meant to be a nation that throws children into courtrooms alone and calls it justice.
Because this moment demands more of us.
Because the future depends on what we do now.
This is not just about immigration law. It is about whether we will allow the government to target children for deportation without a lawyer and call it justice.
More to come. Much more.
Stay tuned. Share this. Sign up. Tell your friends. The fight is just beginning.
#HumanRights #Authoritarianism #ChildAdvocacy #Resist #JusticeForChildren #RefugeeRights