Sponsors (29)
The bill strengthens due-process and legal-access protections for unaccompanied immigrant children, but does so at the cost of added administrative requirements, potential slower enforcement response in some large-scale operations, and higher legal service costs.
Unaccompanied immigrant children will be protected from arrest or detention for immigration enforcement without an immigration-judge-issued warrant, and will be barred from being coerced into signing legal waivers without meaningful confidential counsel.
Unaccompanied children who lack a lawyer will be referred to and given confidential access to legal services within five business days, improving access to counsel and procedural protections.
Department of Defense personnel, contractors, and DoD-owned vehicles and conveyances are prohibited from transporting unaccompanied children for immigration enforcement, keeping the military out of civilian immigration operations.
Prohibiting use of DoD assets for transporting unaccompanied children could constrain agencies' ability to execute rapid, large-scale emergency removals that might otherwise rely on military transport.
Requiring an immigration-judge-issued arrest warrant before arresting or detaining minors will add administrative steps that could slow enforcement processing during large influxes or emergency operations.
Guaranteeing confidential counsel access within five business days may increase costs and workload for government and nonprofit legal service providers, potentially requiring additional funding or reallocation and affecting taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars detention of unaccompanied children without an immigration-judge-issued warrant, limits DoD transport for removals, and requires timely confidential access to legal counsel.
Official title: To address the enforcement of the immigration laws with respect to unaccompanied minors.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Maxine Dexter · Last progress June 11, 2026
Prohibits arrest or detention of unaccompanied alien children for immigration enforcement unless an immigration judge issues a warrant, and stops use of Department of Defense personnel, vehicles, or vessels to transport those children for removal or deportation except during presidential Stafford Act disaster responses to natural events. Requires the government to give unaccompanied children a meaningful, confidential opportunity to consult with a lawyer before signing any legal document that waives rights or concedes removability, and mandates referral and an opportunity to consult a legal services provider within five business days if the child has no lawyer. The act also clarifies it does not supersede anti‑trafficking law and defines key statutory terms by reference to existing immigration statutes.