[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3775 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3775

  To increase legal representation for certain aliens, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 16, 2019

   Mr. Brown of Maryland (for himself, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Johnson of 
Georgia, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Norton, Mr. Rush, Mr. Soto, and Mr. Vargas) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To increase legal representation for certain aliens, 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 ``Equal Justice for Immigrants Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. VULNERABLE POPULATION DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``vulnerable population'' means, with respect 
to an alien, that the alien--
            (1) is an asylum seeker or victim of torture or 
        trafficking;
            (2) has special religious, cultural, or spiritual 
        considerations;
            (3) is pregnant or nursing;
            (4) is younger than 21 years of age or older than 60 years 
        of age;
            (5) identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or 
        intersex;
            (6) is a victim or witness of a crime;
            (7) has a mental disorder or physical disability;
            (8) is incapable of filling out forms in English; or
            (9) has been determined by an immigration judge or the 
        Secretary of Homeland Security to be experiencing severe trauma 
        or to be a survivor of torture or gender-based violence, based 
        on information obtained during intake, from the individual's 
        attorney or legal services provider, or through credible self-
        reporting.

       TITLE I--AMENDMENTS TO THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT

SEC. 101. MIGRANT PROTECTION PROTOCOLS.

    (a) Treatment of Aliens Arriving From Contiguous Territory.--
Section 235(b)(2)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1225(b)(2)(C)) is amended by inserting before the period at the end the 
following: ``with the affirmative consent of the alien''.
    (b) Interview Applicants.--In the case of an alien who is a member 
of a vulnerable population and applying for admission as a refugee 
under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Secretary 
of Homeland Security shall ensure that the number of interviews 
required of such an alien is not overly burdensome.
    (c) Asylum Officer Defined.--Section 235(b)(1)(E) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(E)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting the following: ``, and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iii) is an employee of U.S. Citizenship 
                        and Immigration Services.''.

                   TITLE II--IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS

SEC. 201. IMMIGRATION JUDGE REQUIREMENTS.

    The Attorney General may not require an immigration judge to adhere 
to a case production quota or any other time-based metric and may not 
evaluate the performance of an immigration judge using any such quota 
or time based metric.

SEC. 202. REPRESENTATION.

    (a) Right to Counsel.--The Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 238(b)(4)(B), by striking ``(at no expense 
        to the government)'';
            (2) in section 240(b)(4)(A), by striking ``, at no expense 
        to the Government,''; and
            (3) by amending section 292 to read as follows:

                           ``right to counsel

    ``Sec. 292. 
    ``(a) In General.--In any proceeding before an immigration judge 
and in any appeal proceeding before the Attorney General from any such 
proceedings, the person concerned, including an unaccompanied alien 
child or an alien who is an individual with a disability (as such term 
is defined in Section 7(20) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 
U.S.C. 705)), shall have the privilege of being represented by such 
counsel, authorized to practice in such proceedings, as the person 
shall choose.
    ``(b) Indigent Aliens.--In the case of an indigent alien, an 
immigration judge shall appoint, at the alien's request, counsel to 
represent the alien in any proceeding described in subsection (a).''.
    (b) Access to Counsel for Unaccompanied Alien Children.--Section 
235(c)(5) of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232(c)(5)) is amended by 
striking ``to the greatest extent practicable and consistent with 
section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1362)''.
    (c) Court Date.--Section 240(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Deportation.--An alien that is eligible for a removal 
        proceeding under this Act may not be removed prior to the date 
        of such proceeding.''.

                       TITLE III--JUDICIAL REVIEW

SEC. 301. EXTENSION ON PETITION FOR REVIEW.

    Section 242(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1252(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``30 days'' and inserting ``60 
                days''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the period at the end the 
                following: ``, except that a court may extend the 
                deadline for a period of not more than 30 days upon a 
                showing of good cause or excusable neglect''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3)(B)--
                    (A) by striking ``does not'' and inserting 
                ``shall''; and
                    (B) by striking ``, unless the court orders 
                otherwise''.

SEC. 302. NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAL.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the Board of 
Immigration Appeals affirms an order of removal issued pursuant to 
section 240, the Attorney General shall provide written notice of the 
right to appeal to the alien (or, if personal service is not 
practicable, through service by mail to the alien or to the alien's 
counsel of record, if any) specifying the deadline for seeking judicial 
review under section 242 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1252) and the appropriate court of appeals.
    (b) Regulations.--The Attorney General shall amend such regulations 
as may be necessary to implement subsection (a).
    (c) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) shall take effect on the date 
that is 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

                        TITLE IV--MISCELLANEOUS

SEC. 401. VIDEO CONFERENCE TECHNOLOGY.

    Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Executive 
Office for Immigration Review, shall submit to Congress a report on the 
effect of video conference hearings on the outcome of such hearings.

SEC. 402. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$726,200,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2021.
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