American taxpayers must continue funding attorneys for Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) facing deportation, United States District Judge Araceli Martinez Olguin has ruled.
Olguin, born in Mexico City, Mexico, and appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, has issued a nationwide injunction blocking President Donald Trump from ending taxpayer funds being used to pay for lawyers for UACs.
The Trump administration had sought to get Olguin thrown off the case, revealing that she once worked as a managing attorney for one of the lead plaintiffs in the case, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto.
Attorneys for the Trump administration said Olguin’s handling of the case presents an “appearance of bias” due to her prior work with the plaintiffs.
American taxpayers have been forced to pay billions of dollars for lawyers for UACs making their way through the nation’s immigration court system.
More than 25,000 UACs are provided with these free lawyers, thanks to funding approved by Congress year after year.
In early April Olguin issued a temporary halt to Trump’s order seeking to end free attorneys for UACs, writing that “continued funding of legal representation for unaccompanied children promotes efficiency and fairness within the immigration system.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
