Our Rescue Wins $158M Immigration Legal Services Contract
The anti-trafficking group doesn’t list legal services among its operations.
The anti-trafficking group Our Rescue, formerly known as Operation Underground Railroad, has been awarded a $158 million federal contract to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children.
Our Rescue CEO Derek Benner / Video screenshot
The one-year contract was awarded Aug. 7 by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to a government contract-tracking website.
The request for proposals sought legal services for unaccompanied alien children currently in, or released from, ORR care.
“These services are essential to support the legal needs of this vulnerable population in accordance with federal mandates,” the government solicitation said.
The solicitation says the contract runs for a minimum of one year, with four one-year option periods, and that direct legal services will be priced on a firm-fixed-unit price basis.
According to the solicitation, the contractor must provide evidence of its work with unaccompanied minors, including “case preparation and in-person or remote courtroom assistance” for all children “scheduled for immigration court” while in ORR custody.
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Our Rescue’s website does not list legal services as part of its operations. It lists field operations, survivor care, and education and prevention as its current areas of work.
“We work with partners and communities around the globe to provide essential services to people who have been or could be human trafficked and exploited. Our unique approach lies in the way we integrate support and resources for law enforcement during rescue efforts and provide survivor care at scale — a critical differentiator that amplifies our impact,” the website reads.
Derek Benner, Our Rescue’s CEO and a former Department of Homeland Security official, told the news outlet NOTUS that providing legal services to unaccompanied minors aligns with the organization’s mission.
“These are among the most vulnerable children in the world, and they deserve nothing less than the full weight of our experience,” he said. “We welcome this responsibility of working on their behalf.”
According to the request for proposals, the government would weigh four factors in awarding the contract: the group’s ability to implement services on a national scale, its approach to providing quality legal services, its past performance providing legal services to vulnerable populations, and the proposed price.
Our Rescue did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its plans to fulfill the contract or its experience providing legal assistance to unaccompanied alien children.
The group was started by Tim Ballard in 2013 as Operation Underground Railroad. Ballard became well known after the film “Sound of Freedom” depicted his efforts to rescue sex trafficking victims.
Ballard left the nonprofit in 2023, and a few months later, five women sued him for sexual assault, claiming he used psychological and spiritual manipulation to coerce them into sexual contact. MinistryWatch’s coverage of the Ballard lawsuits can be found here.
In the MinistryWatch database, Our Rescue has a Donor Confidence Score of 51, meaning donors should exercise caution in giving to this organization.
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