[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1700 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1700

To amend section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to require 
    the Attorney General to appoint counsel for unaccompanied alien 
  children and aliens with serious mental disabilities, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2015

Mr. Jeffries (for himself, Ms. Bass, Mr. Deutch, Ms. Chu of California, 
  Ms. Lee, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Norton, and Mr. McGovern) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to require 
    the Attorney General to appoint counsel for unaccompanied alien 
  children and aliens with serious mental disabilities, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Vulnerable Immigrant Voice Act''.

SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL IN CERTAIN CASES.

    (a) Appointment of Counsel for Unaccompanied Alien Children and 
Aliens With a Serious Mental Disability.--Section 292 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1362) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' before ``In any'';
            (2) by striking ``(at no expense to the Government)'';
            (3) by striking ``he shall'' and inserting ``the person 
        shall''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), the Government is not 
required to provide counsel to aliens under subsection (a).
    ``(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), the Attorney General shall 
appoint counsel, at the expense of the Government if necessary (to the 
extent provided in appropriations Acts), to represent an alien in a 
removal proceeding who--
            ``(1) has been determined by the Secretary to be an 
        unaccompanied alien child (as defined in section 462 of the 
        Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g))); or
            ``(2) is unable to represent himself or herself due to a 
        serious mental disability that would be included in section 
        3(1) of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
        12102(1)).''.
    (b) Funding.--There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary to carry out the amendments made by this section.
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