On Thursday, agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) visited the Washington, D.C., offices of several nonprofit legal providers that represent unaccompanied migrant children, multiple organizations told ABC News.
Representatives from two groups said HSI agents did not present a warrant or a subpoena and were denied entry to office space. The organizations said it remains unclear what the purpose of the visits was. Officials from the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) were reportedly present during the visits.
Kids in Need of Defense confirmed that its U.S. headquarters in Washington, D.C., was among the offices visited. In a statement, the group said the visits were part of "a coordinated operation targeting federal subcontractors who provide legal services to unaccompanied children." Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, described the operation as part of "ongoing administration efforts targeting nonprofit organizations operating in the immigration space and undermining legal services for unaccompanied children seeking safety in the United States."
"Kids in Need of Defense's U.S. Headquarters in Washington, DC, was among several U.S. legal service providers visited by Homeland Security Investigations agents and the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General as part of a coordinated operation targeting federal subcontractors who provide legal services to unaccompanied children," the organization said.
An official with Ayuda, another legal provider, told ABC News that HSI agents similarly did not present a warrant or subpoena. Ayuda staff directed agents to organizational leadership and did not provide client information, client-identifying details, documents, or billing records, the group said.
The reported visits occurred the same day that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche held a press conference announcing efforts to crack down on so-called "supersponsors" — individuals who allegedly fraudulently seek custody of unaccompanied migrant children — part of the administration's broader immigration enforcement actions.
In a statement to ABC News, a DHS spokesperson did not confirm the agents' visits to the offices but said the agency "is dedicated to locating the 450,000 unaccompanied children that came in through the border under the Biden administration." Immigration advocates and attorneys have disputed elements of those figures.
Those claims draw on a 2024 DHS internal watchdog report that found ICE had not served notices to appear to more than 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children. The watchdog also warned that, over the prior five years, more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children had failed to appear for immigration court hearings and that ICE was unable to account for the whereabouts of all of them.
Last year, several legal service providers sued the administration after federal funding to groups representing tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children was cut. A judge later ordered the government to restore that funding.
What Remains Unclear
Officials have not publicly explained the specific legal basis for the office visits or identified any subpoenas or warrants.
Nonprofits say they did not hand over client records and that leadership rather than frontline staff handled the interaction.
Advocates warn the visits could have a chilling effect on organizations that provide legal support to vulnerable children.
