Houston law firm with Trump ties gets $150M contract for child immigrant legal services

A Burke Law Group founder was a former Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior.

BY VALERIE GONZALEZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS AUG. 4, 2026, 9:34 P.M. CENTRAL

Unaccompanied minor migrants wait to be transported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after crossing the Rio Grande River into the United States from Mexico in La Joya on April 7, 2021. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

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The Trump administration is planning to hire a Houston-based law firm with ties to the administration to provide legal services to unaccompanied children, according to a notice scheduled to be posted on the Federal Register this week.

The agreement will award a contract of $150 million to Burke Law Group, with a proposed time period covering one year starting Aug. 15.

One of the founders, Marcella Burkey, was a former Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Jeffrey Hall, a former employee and founding partner, was recently appointed and confirmed to serve in the EPA late last year.

The announcement comes days after the federal government allowed a contract to expire on Friday with a network of nearly 100 legal groups after not paying for their services for more than half a year.

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