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When Allison brought her six-year-old niece, Frida, to immigration court in San Antonio, she was hoping the family could get more time to find a lawyer.
Frida's attorney had withdrawn from the case, leaving the family facing a consequential court hearing without the legal help they had counted on.
For Allison, the stakes were deeply personal. She said the family was frightened about what the court might decide and what it could mean for the young girl’s future.
“Today is the day that they tell us everything, and we're a little scared because this is her life, and we don't want her in danger,” Allison said. “So, we're basically asking the court if we can have more time because her lawyer bailed on her. But this is the fight right now.”
Frida's case comes as immigration courts are handling growing numbers of proceedings involving children without legal representation. Immigration rights advocates say the loss of federally funded legal services, combined with an increasingly fast-paced court system, is leaving vulnerable children and their families with fewer resources to understand their rights and fight deportation.
The challenges extend beyond San Antonio. But local court data illustrates the scale of the issue facing children in the region.
An analysis of immigration court records by data researchers at bklg.org, a service that helps immigration lawyers organize their deportation defense cases, found that, as of Aug. 31, 183 unaccompanied children in the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement had open immigration court cases assigned to San Antonio.
Nationwide, 1,523 children in federal shelter custody had open cases.
Those figures represent children in federal custody with pending cases assigned to the courts. They do not include every child with an open immigration case in San Antonio.
Children face court without legal representation
The federal government allowed a contract supporting a network of community-based legal service providers for unaccompanied immigrant children to expire July 31.
Advocates say more than 20,000 children lost access to federally funded legal representation, legal orientations and legal screenings as a result.
The legal service providers helped children understand the immigration process, learn about potential forms of legal relief and prepare for proceedings that could determine whether they would be allowed to remain in the United States. The loss of those services comes as more children face immigration courts without an attorney.
According to an Oct. 15 analysis by the Vera Institute of Justice, 55% of unaccompanied children's immigration court cases completed so far in 2026 had never had an attorney of record. That is up from 48% in 2025 and 38% in 2024.
The Vera Institute also found that 84% of unaccompanied children's cases completed in August resulted in outcomes requiring them to leave the United States. That compares with 54% in August 2025 and 33% in August 2024.
Lauren Fisher Flores, legal director of the American Bar Association's South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, said children in South Texas are encountering the consequences of these changes firsthand.
She described a recent case in Harlingen involving a child who appeared without an attorney.
“We were there as a 7-year-old appeared alone before an immigration judge in Harlingen, Texas. No attorney, no friend of court. The judge ordered her to leave the United States within 30 days,” Fisher Flores said.
Fisher Flores said the way children's hearings are being conducted adds another layer of difficulty.
“All children's hearings in our area are being held by Webex with judges from all over the country. It's confusing. It's chaotic. For a child appearing without counsel makes what is already extremely difficult to understand even harder,” she said.
The hearings take place remotely, with judges appearing by video rather than being physically present in the courtroom where a child appears. For a young person navigating an unfamiliar legal system, often in a language they are still learning, that arrangement can make an already complicated process more difficult to follow.
Families struggle to afford legal help
For Frida's family, losing an attorney has also meant added financial pressure.
Allison said Frida's mother has been working long hours to cover the costs of navigating the immigration system, leaving her with less time to spend with her daughter.
“Her mother's been paying out of pocket. I know she's been working like every day. Basically, she doesn't even see her daughter that much because she has to work all this time only to pay the fees for the court, fees for the lawyers, lawyers who just bailed on cases,” Allison said.
The federal contract expiration has left families and advocates scrambling to find other sources of legal assistance.
Immigration proceedings can involve complex questions about asylum, eligibility for other forms of relief and the consequences of agreeing to leave the country. Advocates say children should have access to qualified legal help before being asked to make decisions that could affect their ability to remain in the United States.
The federal government has not provided legal representation to every unaccompanied child in immigration proceedings. But advocates say the recently disrupted network offered an important source of assistance to children who otherwise might have had nowhere to turn.
A broader push to accelerate immigration court proceedings
The cases involving children are unfolding amid a broader effort to move immigration cases through the court system more quickly.
Beginning in May 2026, immigration courts around the country began scheduling large blocks of initial hearings known as “mega master” calendar hearings. The practice expanded to additional cities in late May and early June, including San Antonio.
A master calendar hearing is an initial stage of immigration court proceedings. It typically addresses procedural matters, including the charges against an immigrant, the forms of relief they may seek and the scheduling of future hearings.
Under the "mega master" approach, courts schedule dozens and sometimes more than 100 people to appear during the same session. In some cases, hearings previously scheduled months or years into the future have been moved up with relatively little notice.
The administration's broader effort is intended to accelerate immigration court proceedings and address a backlog of millions of cases. But immigration attorneys and advocates have raised concerns about whether people have enough time to prepare, secure legal representation and understand what is happening in court.
People who fail to appear can be ordered removed from the United States in the absence of an attorney. Researchers tracking the hearings have documented a sharp increase in these orders.
Advocates question the role of the federal agency responsible for children
The loss of legal services has also raised questions about the federal government's treatment of unaccompanied children.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for the care and custody of unaccompanied children transferred to its custody. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for immigration enforcement.
Jason Boyd, vice president of U.S. federal policy at the nonprofit Kids in Need of Defense, said he believes the distinction between the agencies' roles is becoming increasingly blurred.
“ORR is facilitating ICE's mass deportation agenda rather than acting in the best interests of the children whose care and custody Congress vested them with,” Boyd said.
Boyd and other advocates argue that children who arrive in the United States without a parent or legal guardian need specialized protections as they navigate the immigration system.
An uncertain future
Policy debates and national statistics underscore concerns raised by immigration attorneys in South Texas. Children can find themselves in court without the legal assistance needed to understand the proceedings, while their families struggle to pay for private representation.
For advocates, restoring access to legal services is a critical step toward ensuring that children understand their rights before a judge decides whether they can remain in the country.
For Allison and Frida’s family, and for thousands of families throughout the country who find themselves in similar situations, the question is more immediate: Will they have enough time and help to make their case?
Editor's note: This story uses Allison and Frida's first names only to respect their privacy.
