Sponsors (4)
The bill substantially expands funding and capacity for legal representation in immigration removal proceedings—improving access and fairness for many immigrants—but it raises federal spending, administrative burdens, potential exclusions from narrowly drawn definitions, and trade-offs with enforcement priorities and small providers' capacity.
Immigrants facing removal—especially low-income respondents—will gain substantially greater access to government-funded and competitively funded legal representation, improving fairness and accuracy of proceedings.
Community-based organizations and nonprofits can receive grant funding to hire and train staff and expand service capacity, creating local jobs and strengthening legal-services infrastructure.
Targeted grant awards and support for states/localities will reduce geographic disparities by establishing or scaling legal-representation programs in underserved and rural areas.
Taxpayers could face higher federal spending (roughly $200 million across two years plus expanded grant programs), which may increase the deficit or require offsets.
People who are not within the bill's narrowly defined statutory category of 'individual facing removal' could be excluded from protections or services, leaving some immigrants without representation.
New reporting, certification, audit, and public-disclosure requirements increase administrative and compliance burdens for small nonprofits and for DOJ, raising costs and straining limited capacity.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Creates DOJ grants to build immigration legal defense capacity and authorizes $100M per year for FY2026–2027 to expand access to counsel.
Introduced March 19, 2026 by Edward John Markey · Last progress March 19, 2026
Creates a Department of Justice grant program to grow the immigration legal defense workforce and strengthen legal services infrastructure for people in removal (deportation) proceedings. Grants fund recruitment, training, technical assistance, retention, capacity growth in underserved areas, and related infrastructure to expand access to counsel for people who cannot afford representation. Sets program rules and competitive procedures to target workforce and infrastructure goals, requires annual grantee reporting and Office of Inspector General audits, and authorizes $100 million for each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to carry out the program. Federal funds must supplement, not replace, existing state or local spending on immigration legal services and the Act preserves existing statutory pathways for government-funded counsel where already allowed by law.