A Biden-appointed judge ordered the Trump administration to restore a program that provides taxpayer-funded attorneys for detained illegal migrants who’ve been deemed mentally incompetent.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, appointed to the bench in 2024, blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday from terminating the National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP), according to court documents. The ruling effectively forces the Trump administration to keep funding a program that doles out millions of dollars, allowing illegal migrants to fight off deportation orders in immigration court.
“[The] action was taken without any record of considering the acute reliance interests and consequences for the administration of justice, the vulnerable population affected, or the ongoing representations that will be disrupted,” Ali wrote of the Trump administration’s effort to cut the program.
“Accordingly, and given the irreparable harm caused when people found mentally incompetent are stripped of their representation and the threat to the public interest when immigration courts are denied any mechanism to appoint representation, the Court finds Plaintiffs are entitled to preliminary relief,” the Biden-appointed judge continued.
Representatives for the DOJ and DHS did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Established by the Obama administration in 2013, the NQRP is a nationwide program by the DOJ and DHS that pays third-party non-profit groups to represent migrants being held in detention who have mental disorders or conditions that may make them unable to represent themselves in immigration proceedings, according to court documents.
As of 2020, the program has provided representation to more than 2,000 detained migrants, costing $12 million per year, according to court documents. Immigration groups involved in the NQRP say the program provides counsel “regardless of criminal history” — meaning an illegal migrant accused or convicted of any number of heinous crimes may still benefit from the taxpayer-funded program.
The Trump administration, amid its aggressive push to cut overzealous government spending, moved to scrap the program in April, according to court documents. A slate of immigration groups, which stand to lose millions in lost government contracts, sued the administration in May to force the restoration of the NQRP.
“Defendant [Executive Office of Immigration Review] has offered no rationale or reasoning as to why it has suddenly refused to continue the NQRP outside of the three Franco states,” the plaintiffs wrote in their lawsuit, referring to the three states — California, Arizona and Washington — where the program was still operating. “Defendants have not considered the harm that their actions will cause to Plaintiffs, their clients, or the immigration system.”
Ali handed these immigration groups a major win on Monday, granting their motion for a preliminary injunction. The Biden-appointed judge prevented DOJ and DHS officials “from taking any action” to terminate or pause the NQRP and to reimplement the program consistent with his order.
The ruling came as the Trump administration wages immigration-related court battles on a multitude of fronts, such as challenges against its birthright citizenship order, ongoing immigration court arrests, the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and numerous other cases.
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