Families Torn Apart by Trump Now Face Legal Aid From Their Prosecutors

After cutting ties with a nonprofit aiding separated families, the Justice Department now wants to advise the same migrants it prosecutes

WASHINGTON — Last week, the Department of Justice has moved to provide direct legal assistance to migrant families separated under the Trump-era border policy, after abruptly ending a federal contract with the nonprofit Acacia Center for Justice — a shift immigrant advocates say could endanger the very families the program was meant to protect.

“They’re being asked to trust the government that harmed them to tell them how to move forward,” said Sara Van Hofwegen, Acacia’s managing director of legal access programs, in comments to The California Newsroom, which first reported the story.