Sponsors (33)
Official title: To provide counsel for unaccompanied children, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Zoe Lofgren · Last progress June 11, 2026
The bill substantially expands legal representation, procedural protections, and transparency for noncitizens—especially children and detained individuals—improving fairness and reducing erroneous removals, while imposing meaningful fiscal costs, operational burdens, and legal/administrative complexity that may slow enforcement and strain implementation.
Noncitizens in removal proceedings — including detained individuals and unaccompanied children — will receive government-funded legal counsel across DHS-operated and contractor sites, increasing representation and consistency of access.
Noncitizen respondents (especially unaccompanied children) will gain concrete procedural protections — timely A-file disclosure (within 7 days), a minimum 10-day review period before proceedings, and the ability to file motions to reopen without time limits (with an automatic stay of removal) — improving fairness and opportunities to mount a defense.
Unaccompanied children will benefit from strengthened continuity and quality of counsel: HHS must recruit, train, oversee, and develop model guidelines for appointed attorneys and ensure continuity when children age out or are reunified.
All taxpayers and federal budgets will face higher costs because the bill funds government-appointed counsel, expands procedural protections, requires agency recruitment/training and data reporting, and makes ORR funding available as needed.
Immigration enforcement and adjudication timelines may slow — A-file production deadlines, mandatory review periods, and broadened reopening rights could increase backlogs and delay removals, raising operational workloads for DHS and EOIR.
ORR, legal services providers, and agency programs could be strained by rapid expansion of appointed counsel duties, risking uneven implementation, reliance on inexperienced providers, and gaps in meaningful representation.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Guarantees government-funded counsel access and stronger procedural protections for noncitizens (especially unaccompanied children), requires DHS file disclosure and minimum review time, and authorizes ORR funding.
Requires government-provided access to legal counsel for many noncitizens, strengthens procedural protections in removal (immigration) proceedings, and directs HHS and DHS to ensure counsel access for unaccompanied children and detained noncitizens. It changes federal terminology from “alien” to “noncitizen,” requires timely delivery of DHS A-file materials to respondents or counsel, creates minimum review periods before proceedings proceed, authorizes ORR to receive necessary funds, and mandates annual reporting on counsel provided to unaccompanied children. The law also creates a procedural safety valve for children who were entitled to appointed counsel but did not receive it by pausing removals and relaxing filing deadlines for motions to reopen. It leaves implementation details (exact funding levels, deadlines for providing counsel access at detention sites) to agencies and regulations and requires annual transparency reporting by HHS in consultation with DOJ.