NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration has halted a program that provided lawyers to nearly 26,000 immigrant children, some too young to read or speak, who are or were under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, reported the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

"The children, about 4,000 of whom live in California, face deportation, and many don't have parents or legal guardians in the country," noted the report.

The Interior Department on Tuesday ordered the Acacia Center for Justice, which coordinates the federally funded program that paid the attorneys, "to stop work." In its letter, the agency cited contracting rules to justify the program pause, but did not offer clear reasons why.

"Since taking office, the Trump administration has sought to weaken portions of the immigration system that support detainees," said the report, adding that "the orders come as an administration advisory group, which billionaire aide Elon Musk calls the Department of Government Efficiency, has been firing federal workers throughout the government and eliminating programs that it says don't align with the administration's objectives." Enditem

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