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From The Hill: A Northern California judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration must temporarily restore legal aid to unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S., effectively blocking a stop-work order issued months prior.
In February, the Department of the Interior informed the Acacia Center for Justice that “the Government hereby directs your firm to stop all work associated with the scope of Contract 140D0422C0009,” which provides legal services for unaccompanied children through a network of contractor organizations.
Eleven subcontractor groups sued the Trump administration over the abrupt end to publicly funded representation for thousands of migrants under the age of 18.
The plaintiffs argued the move was a violation of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), which requires federal entities to prevent and combat the exploitation of unaccompanied children through affirmed legal representation to the “greatest extent practicable.”
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of San Francisco upheld their grounds for objection to the order.
The Acacia Center for Justice, who has been providing legal services to the illegal alien minors, said in a statement, “Children who arrive in the U.S. unaccompanied by parents or legal guardians have often survived targeted violence, abuse, persecution, or trafficking. Legal providers working with these children provide a critical safeguard in protecting them from further harm or exploitation.”
ABOUT THIS JUDGE: Araceli Martínez-Olguín, age 47 or 48, was born in MEXICO CITY, MEXICO in 1977. She serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Martínez-Olguín was nominated by Joe Bidenin August 2022, and her nomination was confirmed by the Senate in February 2023, in a 49-48 vote, with Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
She has previously worked at the ACLU and at the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center. From 2017 to 2018, she was the managing attorney at the Immigrants’ Rights Project at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, California. From 2018 to 2023, she was the supervising attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.
Below is a video of Martínez-Olguín from November 2019, when she was working as a staff attorney for the Immigration Law Center. She touts that she represents a group of DACA recipients in a case before the Supreme Court, as they are “challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful and cruel termination of DACA.”
She makes it clear that her mission is to represent the illegal aliens, as she encourages them to keep renewing their DACA status and says, “regardless of your immigration status, your #HomeIsHere, and you belong here.”
NILC Staff Attorney Araceli Martínez-Olguín helps break down what it was like inside #SCOTUS during arguments to #DefendDACA.
Remember: “regardless of your immigration status, your #HomeIsHere, and you belong here.” pic.twitter.com/baMp2BdQp8
— National Immigration Law Center (@NILC) November 12, 2019
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin announced:
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 the Trump admin from ending the funding while the merits of the underlying case play out. The order will take effect tomorrow morning and last until at least April 16th. In her decision, she writes:
“The court finds that the continued funding of legal representation for unaccompanied children promotes efficiency and fairness within the immigration system.”
Judge Martinez-OIguin was an immigration attorney prior to President Biden nominating her for the federal bench in July 2022. She was confirmed in February 2023.
Link to order: http://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.447078/gov.uscourts.cand.447078.33.0.pdf
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
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin was literally born in Mexico. The judiciary is a hotbed of foreigners ruling tyrannically over the American people. https://t.co/Vr7vJjWwpM pic.twitter.com/JaCVgWcGuk
— Josiah Lippincott (@jlippincott_) April 2, 2025
A federal judge ordered temporary reinstatement of legal services for unaccompanied migrant minors. https://t.co/DOYB5Fj0ZH
— WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) April 2, 2025
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