How Legal Aid Nonprofits Should Prepare for Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Visits

Ayuda is a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC with a mission to provide legal help to unaccompanied migrant children.Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) paid an unannounced visit toAyuda on June 12, 2026 asking for confidential documents about the migrant children. This incident reflects an urgency for nonprofits to enhance leadership preparedness, writes Jason Collins for the Nonprofit Quarterly.

These agents also targeted other DC-based nonprofit organizations that  work with migrant children.  These organizations include Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. Like Ayuda, they turned the agents away due to a lack of any official warrant. 

The president of KIND, Wendy Young, asserts that this was an act of intimidation on par with the administration’s efforts to undermine nonprofits that attempt to provide legal pathways for unaccompanied children to live in the US. Last year, Trump attempted to cut the funding for legal aid organizations that work with migrants but a judge blocked it.

Paula Fitzgerald, the director of Ayuda, agrees that the visits essentially send a message to communities that their legal right to safely obtain support is being challenged. 

The visits also function as an internal governance wake-up call. Organizations need to determine a proper response for a situation where government officials ask for confidential documents. Legally if there is an official warrant, subpoena, or investigative demand they have to hand over the documents. Short of that, there is no legal obligation to hand them over.

Legal aid organizations that develop strong governance policies, as well as a good response plan will be prepared to answer these requests for information. Maintaining compliance and confidentiality is a must.