Us Congress House Bill HB3127 Latest Draft

                            I 
119THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION H. R. 3127 
To establish the right to counsel, at Government expense for those who 
cannot afford counsel, for people facing removal. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL30, 2025 
Mrs. T
ORRESof California (for herself, Ms. MENG, and Ms. JAYAPAL) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
A BILL 
To establish the right to counsel, at Government expense 
for those who cannot afford counsel, for people facing 
removal. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Fairness to Freedom Act of 2025’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—GUARANTEEING THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL 
Sec. 101. Guaranteeing and expanding the right to counsel. 
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Sec. 102. Public charge. 
TITLE II—OFFICE OF IMMIGRATION REPRESENTATION 
Sec. 201. Definitions. 
Sec. 202. Establishment; purpose; independence. 
Sec. 203. Board of Directors. 
Sec. 204. Director. 
Sec. 205. Employees. 
Sec. 206. Local immigration representation boards. 
Sec. 207. Types of immigration defenders. 
Sec. 208. Compensation and reimbursement of expenses of counsel. 
Sec. 209. Services other than counsel. 
Sec. 210. Immigration Representation Advisory Board. 
TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 
Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 302. Minimum funding for the Office of Immigration Representation. 
TITLE I—GUARANTEEING THE 1
RIGHT TO COUNSEL 2
SEC. 101. GUARANTEEING AND EXPANDING THE RIGHT TO 3
COUNSEL. 4
Section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 5
(8 U.S.C. 1362) is amended to read as follows: 6
‘‘SEC. 292. RIGHT TO COUNSEL. 7
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Any individual in any removal, 8
exclusion, deportation, bond, or expedited removal pro-9
ceeding under section 212(d)(5)(A), 235(b)(1)(B), 236, 10
238, 240, or 241 or in any matter related to any such 11
proceeding before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Serv-12
ices, any State court, or any court created under article 13
III of the Constitution of the United States, any individual 14
who is financially unable to obtain representation subject 15
to such proceeding shall be entitled to legal representation 16
at Government expense in accordance with this section. 17
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‘‘(b) MATTERSINCLUDED.—Proceedings and mat-1
ters referred to in subsection (a) shall include— 2
‘‘(1) petitions for a writ of habeas corpus under 3
section 2241 of title 28, United States Code, or any 4
other similar proceeding; 5
‘‘(2) administrative and judicial proceedings for 6
individuals who may be eligible for special immigrant 7
juvenile status under section 1101(a)(27)(J)(ii) of 8
title 8, United States Code; 9
‘‘(3) applications before the U.S. Citizenship 10
and Immigration Services related to relief from re-11
moval, and post-conviction relief in criminal pro-12
ceedings; 13
‘‘(4) post-conviction relief in criminal pro-14
ceedings; and 15
‘‘(5) any other legal proceeding involving an in-16
dividual described in subsection (a) that is related to 17
such individual’s legal status in the United States. 18
‘‘(c) S
COPE OFCOUNSEL.— 19
‘‘(1) A
DVOCACY.—Consistent with Rule 1.3 of 20
the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Pro-21
fessional conduct, attorneys and other persons pro-22
viding representation to individuals in proceedings or 23
matters described in subsection (a) shall— 24
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‘‘(A) act with reasonable diligence, prompt-1
ness, commitment, and dedication to the inter-2
ests of the client and with zeal in advocating on 3
the client’s behalf; and 4
‘‘(B) hold the Government to its burden by 5
presenting the fullest defense possible in each 6
such proceeding or matter. 7
‘‘(2) S
COPE OF REPRESENTATION .—Represen-8
tation under this section shall include— 9
‘‘(A) counsel and interpretation and trans-10
lation services; and 11
‘‘(B) any other services that are necessary 12
for effective representation, including the serv-13
ices described in section 309 of the Fairness to 14
Freedom Act of 2025. 15
‘‘(3) C
OMMENCEMENT OF REPRESENTATION .— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The right to counsel 17
of a person detained in, or released from, the 18
custody of the Department of Homeland Secu-19
rity or the Department of Health and Human 20
Services shall attach at the earlier of— 21
‘‘(i) the placement of the person in 22
the custody of either department, regard-23
less of whether the person has been for-24
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mally placed in a proceeding described in 1
subsection (a); or 2
‘‘(ii) the issuance to the person of a 3
Notice to Appear or other document initi-4
ating proceedings under section 235, 238, 5
240, or 241. 6
‘‘(B) C
LARIFICATION.—The appointment 7
of counsel based on the issuance of a Notice to 8
Appear shall occur regardless of whether the 9
Notice to Appear has been filed with the immi-10
gration court. The appointment of counsel for a 11
detained person shall occur as soon as possible, 12
but in no event later than 24 hours after such 13
person is taken into the custody of the Depart-14
ment of Homeland Security. 15
‘‘(4) C
ONTINUOUS REPRESENTATION .— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—An individual for 17
whom counsel is appointed under this section 18
shall be represented continuously at every stage 19
of proceedings beginning with the initial ap-20
pearance before any official with adjudicatory 21
authority and including any proceedings before 22
the Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigra-23
tion Appeals, Federal district courts, Federal 24
courts of appeal, and the United States Su-25
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preme Court, including ancillary matters related 1
to the proceedings described in subsection (a), 2
and ending when all such proceedings have con-3
cluded. 4
‘‘(B) A
PPOINTMENT OF DIFFERENT COUN -5
SEL.—If the nature of the representation need-6
ed by a person in proceedings under this section 7
requires the appointment of different represent-8
atives for different stages of such proceedings, 9
all such representatives shall comply with the 10
minimum standards of representation described 11
in paragraph (1). 12
‘‘(C) A
PPOINTMENT OF NEW COUNSEL 13
AFTER RELOCATION .—The Office of Immigra-14
tion Representation established under section 15
202 of the Fairness to Freedom Act of 2025 16
shall ensure that each individual who is released 17
from custody and moves to a State or munici-18
pality other than the State or municipality in 19
which he or she was in custody, or who is trans-20
ferred to a detention facility in another State or 21
municipality is provided with counsel in the new 22
State or municipality in which the individual re-23
sides or is detained. 24
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‘‘(5) CONSTRUCTION.—This subsection shall be 1
broadly construed to attach in any proceeding and 2
related matter, including any petition for review or 3
appellate process, request for re-interview, request 4
for reconsideration, and motion to reopen, arising 5
from a proceeding or matter described in subsection 6
(a). 7
‘‘(d) E
LIGIBILITY ANDCOMMENCEMENT OF IMMI-8
GRATIONPROCEEDINGS.— 9
‘‘(1) N
OTIFICATION.—A proceeding described in 10
subsection (a) shall not commence until counsel has 11
been appointed to represent the individual subject to 12
such proceeding. If such a proceeding has already 13
commenced without the appointment of counsel, 14
such proceeding shall be paused until such counsel 15
is appointed. Before commencing a proceeding de-16
scribed in subsection (a), the adjudicatory official, 17
who may be an official of U.S. Immigration and 18
Customs Enforcement or of U.S. Customs and Bor-19
der Protection, under a plan approved by the Office 20
of Immigration Representation, shall notify the indi-21
vidual subject to such proceeding that— 22
‘‘(A) such individual has the right to be 23
represented by counsel; and 24
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‘‘(B) counsel will be appointed to represent 1
such individual before the commencement of 2
such proceeding if the individual— 3
‘‘(i) has not retained private counsel; 4
and 5
‘‘(ii) is financially unable to obtain 6
counsel. 7
‘‘(2) D
ETERMINATION OF FINANCIAL ABILITY 8
TO OBTAIN COUNSEL.— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—An individual shall be 10
deemed to be financially unable to obtain coun-11
sel under paragraph (1)(B)(ii) if the individ-12
ual’s net financial resources and income are in-13
sufficient to obtain qualified counsel. 14
‘‘(B) E
LIGIBILITY FOR COUNSEL .—An in-15
dividual who makes a sworn statement to the 16
adjudicatory official referred to in subsection 17
(a) that he or she is a member of a family 18
whose income is not more than 200 percent of 19
the poverty line (as defined in section 673(2) of 20
the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 21
U.S.C. 9902(2))) is eligible for Government-ap-22
pointed counsel under this section. 23
‘‘(3) A
CCESS TO PERTINENT DOCUMENTS AND 24
INFORMATION.— 25
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An individual de-1
scribed in subsection (a) and his or her counsel 2
shall automatically receive a complete copy of 3
all documents and information pertaining to 4
such individual that are in the possession of the 5
Department of Homeland Security or the De-6
partment of Health and Human Services, in-7
cluding documents obtained from other Govern-8
ment agencies, unless the disclosure of any such 9
document or information is barred by privilege 10
or otherwise prohibited by law. 11
‘‘(B) R
ECORDS.—Not later than 7 days 12
after counsel is appointed to represent an indi-13
vidual under this Act, the Director of U.S. Citi-14
zenship and Immigration Services shall— 15
‘‘(i) provide such individual and coun-16
sel with a complete copy of the individual’s 17
immigration file (commonly known as the 18
‘A-file’); and 19
‘‘(ii) facilitate the provision to such 20
individual and counsel of a copy of any 21
Record of Proceeding that is in the posses-22
sion of the Department of Homeland Secu-23
rity, the Department of Health and 24
Human Services, or the Department of 25
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Justice (other than documents protected 1
from disclosure under section 552(b) of 2
title 5, United States Code). 3
‘‘(4) R
ESTRICTION.—A proceeding described in 4
subsection (a) may not commence before the date 5
that is 10 days after the date on which the indi-6
vidual, or the individual’s counsel, has received all of 7
the documents described in paragraph (3), in order 8
to review and assess such documents, unless the in-9
dividual or his or her counsel knowingly and volun-10
tarily waives such restriction. 11
‘‘(e) A
PPOINTMENT OFCOUNSEL.— 12
‘‘(1) N
OTIFICATION REQUIREMENT .—If an indi-13
vidual who is entitled to representation under this 14
section is not represented by counsel, the adjudica-15
tory official shall— 16
‘‘(A) notify the Local Administrator ap-17
pointed pursuant to section 206(k)(3) of the 18
Fairness to Freedom Act of 2025 (or the des-19
ignee of the Local Administrator) that such in-20
dividual is not represented by counsel; and 21
‘‘(B) advise such individual— 22
‘‘(i) of his or her right to be rep-23
resented by counsel; and 24
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‘‘(ii) that such counsel will be ap-1
pointed if such person is financially unable 2
to obtain counsel. 3
‘‘(2) W
AIVER.—An individual’s right to be rep-4
resented by appointed counsel may only be waived by 5
the individual— 6
‘‘(A) in the physical presence of appointed 7
counsel; 8
‘‘(B) if such waiver is knowing and vol-9
untary; and 10
‘‘(C) if the individual demonstrates that he 11
or she— 12
‘‘(i) understands the nature of any 13
charges and the possible defenses and out-14
comes; and 15
‘‘(ii) possesses the knowledge and in-16
telligence necessary to conduct his or her 17
own defense. 18
‘‘(3) A
PPEAL OF WAIVER ; RETROACTIVE AP-19
POINTMENT.—Counsel may appeal any putative 20
waiver to the Office of Immigration Representation 21
established under section 202 of the Fairness to 22
Freedom Act of 2025 if counsel reasonably believes 23
that such waiver did not meet the requirements 24
under paragraph (2). If the Office of Immigration 25
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Representation concurs with counsel’s assessment, 1
the Office may retroactively appoint counsel in order 2
to include any representation furnished pursuant to 3
the plan before such appointment. 4
‘‘(4) A
PPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL .—Unless an 5
individual waives representation by counsel pursuant 6
to paragraph (2), the Local Administrator, upon no-7
tification that an individual may meet the criteria 8
for appointed counsel, shall appoint counsel for such 9
individual in accordance with the Local Plan devel-10
oped pursuant to section 206(k)(1) of the Fairness 11
to Freedom Act of 2025 if the Local Administrator 12
determines, after appropriate inquiry, that such indi-13
vidual is financially unable to obtain counsel. An ap-14
pointment under this paragraph may be made retro-15
active to include any representation furnished to 16
such individual by such counsel before such appoint-17
ment. 18
‘‘(5) A
PPOINTMENT OF SEPARATE COUNSEL .— 19
The Local Administrator shall appoint separate 20
counsel for individuals who are subjected to the 21
same proceeding or related proceedings if— 22
‘‘(A) the interests of such individuals can-23
not, consistent with ethical responsibilities and 24
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manageable workloads, be properly be rep-1
resented by a single counsel; or 2
‘‘(B) the Local Administrator dem-3
onstrates another good cause for appointing 4
separate counsel. 5
‘‘(6) C
ONSOLIDATED CASES.— 6
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph 7
(5) and except as provided in subparagraph 8
(B), if the Attorney General consolidates the 9
case of an individual for whom counsel was ap-10
pointed pursuant to subsection (a) with the case 11
of another individual without counsel, the coun-12
sel appointed pursuant to subsection (a) shall 13
be appointed to represent such other individual 14
unless a conflict of interest would prevent joint 15
representation. 16
‘‘(B) C
ONFLICT OF INTEREST .—If a con-17
flict of interest prevents joint representation 18
under subparagraph (A), the Local Adminis-19
trator shall appoint separate counsel for the in-20
dividuals referred to in such subparagraph un-21
less the Local Administrator demonstrates that 22
there is a good cause for not appointing sepa-23
rate counsel. 24
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‘‘(7) CHANGE OF FINANCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES 1
DURING PROCEEDINGS .—If an individual who has 2
retained counsel becomes financially unable to pay 3
such counsel and is eligible for appointed counsel 4
under this section, the Local Administrator may ap-5
point counsel for such individual in accordance with 6
this section. 7
‘‘(8) S
UBSTITUTION OF COUNSEL .—The Local 8
Administrator, in the interests of justice, upon a 9
showing of good cause, and consistent with ethical 10
requirements applicable to attorneys practicing in 11
the region, substitute an appointed counsel for an-12
other appointed counsel at any stage of a proceeding 13
referred to in subsection (a). 14
‘‘(f) A
CCESS TOCOUNSEL.— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—If an individual is subject 16
to proceedings described in subsection (a) or to de-17
tention or inspection at a port of entry, U.S. Cus-18
toms and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and 19
Customs Enforcement, or the Office of Refugee Re-20
settlement, as appropriate, shall— 21
‘‘(A) facilitate access for such individual to 22
counsel; and 23
‘‘(B) ensure that counsel appointed under 24
this section is permitted to meet in person with 25
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such individual in a confidential, private setting 1
when requested during the first 12 hours the 2
individual is detained and as soon as practicable 3
after subsequent meeting requests. 4
‘‘(2) A
LTERNATIVE MEETING OPTIONS .—If 5
counsel appointed pursuant to this section cannot 6
personally meet with an individual described in para-7
graph (1) to whom such counsel was appointed to 8
represent, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 9
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the 10
Office of Refugee Resettlement, as appropriate, at 11
the request of such individual or the counsel of the 12
individual, shall provide alternative options through 13
which counsel may communicate with such indi-14
vidual remotely in a confidential, private manner 15
during the first 12 hours such individual is detained 16
and as soon as practicable after subsequent meeting 17
requests. 18
‘‘(3) E
FFECT OF FAILURE TO PROVIDE TIMELY 19
ACCESS TO COUNSEL.—If U.S. Customs and Border 20
Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce-21
ment, or the Office of Refugee Resettlement, as ap-22
plicable, fails to timely provide an individual with ac-23
cess to counsel in accordance with paragraph (1) or 24
(2), no statement made by the individual before such 25
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access has been made available may be introduced 1
into evidence against the respondent except on a mo-2
tion by the appointed counsel, who shall be entitled 3
to a continuance in the proceedings giving rise to the 4
appointment of such counsel. 5
‘‘(4) L
IMITATION.—An individual held or de-6
tained at a port of entry may not submit a valid 7
Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resi-8
dent Status or Withdrawal of Application for Admis-9
sion if U.S. Customs and Border Protection or U.S. 10
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to 11
provide such individual with access to counsel in ac-12
cordance with this section. 13
‘‘(5) I
NSTITUTIONAL HEARING PROGRAM .—In-14
dividuals held in Federal, State, or local criminal 15
custody who are placed in any proceeding described 16
in subsection (a) shall be ensured access to counsel 17
consistent with the requirements of this section. No 18
statement made by the respondent before such ac-19
cess has been made available may be introduced into 20
evidence against the respondent except on appointed 21
counsel’s own motion. Counsel shall be entitled to a 22
continuance in the proceedings giving rise to his or 23
her appointment. 24
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‘‘(6) TERMINATION OF PROCEEDINGS .—If the 1
Local Administrator fails to provide counsel to an 2
individual in accordance with this section, the Sec-3
retary of Homeland Security or the Attorney Gen-4
eral, as appropriate, shall terminate any proceedings 5
involving such individual with prejudice.’’. 6
SEC. 102. PUBLIC CHARGE. 7
Seeking or receiving appointed counsel under section 8
292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended 9
by section 101, may not be serve as the basis for any de-10
termination that the individual seeking or receiving such 11
services is likely to become a public charge for the pur-12
poses of determining the admissibility, removability, ex-13
cludability, or deportability of such individual under such 14
Act, or in any other proceeding in which such individual’s 15
likelihood of becoming a public charge is at issue for immi-16
gration purposes. 17
TITLE II—OFFICE OF IMMIGRA-18
TION REPRESENTATION 19
SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 20
In this title: 21
(1) B
OARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 22
Board of Directors of the Office. 23
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(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 1
the Director of the Office of Immigration Represen-2
tation appointed pursuant to section 206(k)(1). 3
(3) I
MMIGRATION PUBLIC DEFENDER ORGANI -4
ZATION.—The term ‘‘Immigration Public Defender 5
Organization’’ means an organization established by 6
a Local Board pursuant to section 207(a)(1). 7
(4) L
OCAL BOARD.—The term ‘‘Local Board’’ 8
means a local immigration representation board es-9
tablished within a region pursuant to section 206(a). 10
(5) O
FFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of-11
fice of Immigration Representation established 12
under section 202(a). 13
SEC. 202. ESTABLISHMENT; PURPOSE; INDEPENDENCE. 14
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 15
District of Columbia a private nonprofit corporation, 16
which shall be known as the Office of Immigration Rep-17
resentation. 18
(b) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of the Office shall be to 19
ensure high-quality legal representation and related serv-20
ices to all individuals described in section 292(a) of the 21
Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by section 22
101, who cannot afford representation. 23
(c) I
NDEPENDENCE.—Except as otherwise provided 24
in this Act, the Office shall exercise its authority inde-25
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pendently of any Government official, agency, or depart-1
ment, including the Department of Justice, the Depart-2
ment of Homeland Security, and the Department of 3
Health and Human Services. 4
SEC. 203. BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 5
(a) N
UMBER ANDAPPOINTMENT.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Office shall be governed 7
by a Board of Directors, consisting of 24 members 8
who shall be appointed not later than 1 year after 9
the date of the enactment of this Act, in accordance 10
with paragraph (2). 11
(2) I
NITIAL JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS .— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-13
graphs (B) and (C), the chief judge of each 14
United States Court of Appeals (except for the 15
chief judge for the Federal Circuit) shall ap-16
point 2 individuals to the Board who meet the 17
requirements set forth in subsection (b). 18
(B) S
TAGGERED TERMS OF SERVICE .—The 19
terms of service of the members of the Board 20
appointed pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall 21
be staggered so that— 22
(i) 6 members serve an initial term of 23
1 year; 24
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(ii) 6 members serve an initial term of 1
2 years; 2
(iii) 6 members serve an initial term 3
of 3 years; and 4
(iv) 6 members serve an initial term 5
of 4 years. 6
(C) C
IRCUITS.— 7
(i) E
ASTERN CIRCUITS.—The chief 8
judge of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 11th, and 9
DC Circuit Courts of Appeals shall appoint 10
1 individual to serve an initial term of 1 11
year and 1 individual to serve an initial 12
term of 4 years. 13
(ii) R
EMAINING CIRCUITS.—The chief 14
judge of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 15
10th Circuit Courts of Appeals shall ap-16
point 1 individual to serve an initial term 17
of 2 years and 1 individual to serve an ini-18
tial term of 3 years. 19
(3) I
MMIGRATION REPRESENTATION ADVISORY 20
BOARD APPOINTMENTS .— 21
(A) I
NITIAL APPOINTMENTS .—Upon the 22
expiration of the initial term of the 6 members 23
of the Board who were appointed to 1-year 24
terms pursuant to paragraph (2)(B)(i), the Im-25
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migration Representation Advisory Board es-1
tablished under section 210 shall appoint to 4- 2
year terms— 3
(i) 6 members of the Board; 4
(ii) an Immigration Public Defender, 5
who shall serve as a nonvoting, ex-officio 6
member of the Board; and 7
(iii) a Panel Attorney, who shall serve 8
as a nonvoting, ex-officio member of the 9
Board. 10
(B) S
UBSEQUENT APPOINTMENTS .—Upon 11
the expiration of the initial term of the 6 mem-12
bers of the Board who were appointed to 2-year 13
terms pursuant to paragraph (2)(B)(ii), the Im-14
migration Representation Advisory Board es-15
tablished under section 210 shall appoint 6 16
members of the Board to 4-year terms. The Im-17
migration Representation Advisory Board shall 18
also appoint individuals to replace any member 19
of the Board who had been appointed by the 20
Advisory Board, upon the expiration of such 21
member’s term. 22
(4) S
UBSEQUENT JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS .— 23
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Upon the expiration of 24
the term of any member of the Board appointed 25
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•HR 3127 IH
by a chief judge to a 3-year or 4-year term, 1
such chief judge shall appoint an individual to 2
the Board from a list of 5 qualified individuals 3
nominated, by majority vote, by a committee 4
consisting of— 5
(i) the head of each Immigration Pub-6
lic Defender Organization that is 7
headquartered within the corresponding 8
circuit; 9
(ii) the head of each Community De-10
fender Office that is headquartered within 11
the corresponding circuit; and 12
(iii) panel attorney representatives 13
within the corresponding circuit. 14
(B) F
AILURE TO PRODUCE LIST .—If a 15
committee described in subparagraph (A) from 16
a circuit does not provide a list of 5 Board 17
nominees to the chief judge of the cor-18
responding circuit before the date that is 30 19
days after the expiration of the term of service 20
of a member of the Board representing such 21
circuit, the chief judge of such circuit may ap-22
point an individual to replace such member of 23
the Board without regard to nominations. 24
(b) R
ESTRICTIONS ONMEMBERSHIP.— 25
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•HR 3127 IH
(1) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each individual ap-1
pointed to the Board pursuant to subsection (a)— 2
(A) shall be nonpartisan; 3
(B) shall have significant experience rep-4
resenting persons in proceedings described in 5
section 292(a) of the Immigration and Nation-6
ality Act, as amended by section 101 of this 7
Act; and 8
(C) shall have demonstrated a strong com-9
mitment to representation in indigent defense 10
matters. 11
(2) D
IVERSITY.—In making appointments to 12
the Board under subsection (a), chief judges and the 13
Immigration Representation Advisory Board shall 14
seek to appoint individuals, in the aggregate, who re-15
flect the characteristics of the population rep-16
resented by counsel appointed pursuant section 292 17
of the Immigration and Nationality Act, including 18
the characteristics of race, gender identity, sexual 19
orientation, immigration experience, and socio-20
economic background. 21
(3) D
ISQUALIFYING CHARACTERISTICS .—A 22
member of the Board, while serving in such capac-23
ity, may not be— 24
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•HR 3127 IH
(A) an employee of the Office or a member 1
of a Local Board, an Immigration Public De-2
fender Organization or Community Defender 3
Office, or a Panel Attorney, unless he or she is 4
serving as an ex-officio member of the Board; 5
(B) a judge or employee of any Federal or 6
State court, any immigration court, or the 7
Board of Immigration Appeals; or 8
(C) a prosecutor or law enforcement officer 9
or employee thereof, or any person who has 10
held such a position during the 3-year period 11
immediately preceding his or her appointment 12
to the Board. 13
(c) T
ERM OFMEMBERSHIP.— 14
(1) M
AXIMUM LENGTH OF SERVICE .—No mem-15
ber of the Board may serve more than 2 terms, ex-16
cept that a person who was appointed to serve a 1- 17
year term may be appointed to 2 additional 4-year 18
terms. 19
(2) R
EPLACEMENT MEMBERS .—A person who 20
is appointed to replace a member who resigned or 21
was removed— 22
(A) shall serve the remainder of the term 23
of such member; and 24
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•HR 3127 IH
(B) may be appointed to serve up to 2 ad-1
ditional 4-year terms. 2
(d) V
ACANCIES.— 3
(1) M
EMBERS SELECTED BY A CHIEF JUDGE .— 4
Not later than 90 days after the creation of a va-5
cancy arising from a Board member position selected 6
by a chief judge, the committee described in sub-7
section (a)(2)(A) from the corresponding circuit 8
shall submit a list of 5 qualified nominees to such 9
chief judge, who shall appoint 1 of such nominees as 10
the new member of the Board. 11
(2) F
AILURE TO PRODUCE LIST .—If the com-12
mittee fails to submit the list required under para-13
graph (1) before the deadline, the chief judge may 14
make a selection without regard to nominations. 15
(3) M
EMBERS SELECTED BY THE IMMIGRATION 16
REPRESENTATION ADVISORY BOARD .—Not later 17
than 90 days after the creation of a vacancy arising 18
from a Board member position selected by the Immi-19
gration Representation Advisory Board, the Immi-20
gration Representation Advisory Board shall appoint 21
a new member of the Board to fill such vacancy. 22
(e) R
ATES OFPAY; TRAVELEXPENSES.— 23
(1) R
ATES OF PAY.—Members shall be paid for 24
their services on the Board at a rate not to exceed 25
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•HR 3127 IH
the daily rate at which judges of the United States 1
courts of appeals are compensated. No member may 2
be paid for more than 90 days in any calendar year. 3
(2) T
RAVEL EXPENSES .—Each member shall 4
receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of 5
subsistence, in accordance with applicable provisions 6
under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United 7
States Code. 8
(f) C
HAIRPERSON.—The Chairperson of the Board 9
shall be elected by the members and shall serve for a 2- 10
year term, which may be renewed once by the Board for 11
an additional 2-year term. 12
(g) R
EMOVAL OFMEMBERS.—The members of the 13
Board, by a vote of 13 members, may remove a member 14
from the Board for— 15
(1) malfeasance in office; 16
(2) persistent neglect of, or inability to dis-17
charge, Board duties; or 18
(3) conduct unbecoming of a member of the 19
Board. 20
(h) Q
UORUM.—A quorum for purposes of conducting 21
Board business shall be a majority of the members of the 22
Board presently serving. 23
(i) V
OTING.—All members of the Board are entitled 24
to vote on any matters coming before the Board unless 25
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•HR 3127 IH
otherwise provided by rules adopted by the Board con-1
cerning voting on matters in which a member has, or ap-2
pears to have, a financial or other personal interest. 3
(j) B
YLAWS.—The Board shall adopt bylaws gov-4
erning the operation of the Board, which may include pro-5
visions authorizing other officers of the Board and gov-6
erning proxy voting, telephonic and video meetings, and 7
the appointment of committees. 8
(k) D
UTIES OF THEBOARD.—The Board shall— 9
(1) appoint a Director of the Office not later 10
than 2 months after the establishment of the 11
Board— 12
(A) who shall be selected on the basis of 13
training, experience, and other relevant quali-14
fications; and 15
(B) who shall serve at the pleasure of the 16
Board; 17
(2) convene a meeting not later than 4 months 18
after the establishment of the Board, and not less 19
frequently than quarterly thereafter; 20
(3) submit appropriations requests to Congress 21
for the provision of legal services to individuals rep-22
resented by counsel in proceedings described in sec-23
tion 292(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 24
as amended by section 101(a); 25
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(4) submit an annual report to Congress and 1
the President that— 2
(A) describes the operation of the Office 3
and the delivery of services required under sec-4
tion 292 of the Immigration and Nationality 5
Act; and 6
(B) includes— 7
(i) the number of people who were 8
provided legal services during the reporting 9
period pursuant to such section 292 and 10
the types of proceedings in which such peo-11
ple were represented; 12
(ii) the custodial status of the people 13
who were represented; 14
(iii) aggregate case outcomes for the 15
people who were represented; and 16
(iv) the status of appointments and 17
vacancies on the Board and Local Boards; 18
(5) complete and submit to Congress and to the 19
President every 7 years a comprehensive review and 20
evaluation of the implementation of this Act, includ-21
ing the identification of the resources needed to 22
carry out the requirements under this Act and the 23
amendments made by this Act for the foreseeable fu-24
ture; 25
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•HR 3127 IH
(6) make the reports described in paragraphs 1
(4) and (5) publicly available at the time they are 2
submitted to Congress and to the President; 3
(7) establish and maintain standards for the 4
provision of representation that are consistent with 5
appointed counsel’s duty to provide representation 6
under section 292 of the Immigration and Nation-7
ality Act, including— 8
(A) the minimum experience, skill, per-9
formance, and other qualifications for participa-10
tion as appointed counsel; 11
(B) ongoing training, professional develop-12
ment, and mentorship and supervision required 13
to remain eligible to serve as appointed counsel 14
under such section 292; 15
(C) reasonable, manageable, and sustain-16
able appointed counsel caseloads that are con-17
sistent with appointed counsel’s primary duty to 18
provide representation to individuals described 19
in such section 292; 20
(D) the elements to be evaluated during 21
performance reviews of appointed counsel to de-22
termine whether they complied with their duty 23
to provide representation under such section 24
292; 25
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•HR 3127 IH
(E) how to provide adequate representation 1
of clients whose cases present conflicts of inter-2
est; and 3
(F) ensuring continued representation in 4
circumstances in which clients move or are 5
transferred, or where cases are transferred or 6
change venue; 7
(8) evaluate plans submitted by Local Boards 8
for the provision of representation of individuals be-9
fore U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 10
matters described in section 292 of the Immigration 11
and Nationality Act, after taking into account the 12
ability of such plans to provide such representation, 13
and approve such plans if they meet applicable legal 14
requirements of law and are consistent with the poli-15
cies of the Office; 16
(9) review the implementation of plans ap-17
proved by the Board not less frequently than once 18
every 4 years to ensure that each Local Board com-19
plies with the plan approved by the Board; 20
(10) establish policies and procedures with re-21
spect to compensation rates and reimbursement of 22
reasonable expenses for appointed counsel under 23
such section 292 and others providing services re-24
lated to such representation; 25
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•HR 3127 IH
(11) establish procedures to obtain investiga-1
tors, experts, interpreters, and other providers of de-2
fense services necessary for effective representation 3
of individuals who are entitled to counsel under such 4
section 292; 5
(12) establish procedures for the reimbursement 6
of reasonable expenses of attorneys, investigators, 7
experts, interpreters, and other persons providing 8
representation and related services under such sec-9
tion 292; 10
(13) approve staffing levels and budgets for Im-11
migration Public Defender Organizations; 12
(14) approve staffing levels and budgets for the 13
Office; and 14
(15) establish a mechanism for the submission, 15
review, resolution, and reporting of complaints from 16
individuals entitled to counsel under such section 17
292 regarding such representation. 18
(l) P
OWERS OF THE BOARD.—The Board is author-19
ized— 20
(1) to delegate any of its duties, in whole or in 21
part, to the Director, except for the duties described 22
in paragraphs (1), (7), (13) and (14) of subsection 23
(k); 24
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•HR 3127 IH
(2) to alter or revoke any such delegation to the 1
Director; 2
(3) to provide to Congress information regard-3
ing the immigration system that the Board considers 4
relevant to the purpose of the Office; 5
(4) to authorize studies or reports that relate to 6
the purpose of the Office; 7
(5) to combine Local Boards or divide an area 8
served by a Local Board if the Board determines 9
that such action is necessary to carry out the pur-10
poses of this section; 11
(6) to remove, by a vote of at least 13 mem-12
bers, a member or members of a Local Board for 13
malfeasance in office, persistent neglect of or inabil-14
ity to discharge duties, or conduct unbecoming of a 15
member of the Local Board; 16
(7) to seek, accept, and use public grants, pri-17
vate contributions, and voluntary and uncompen-18
sated (gratuitous services) to assist the Board in 19
carrying out the purposes of this Act and other serv-20
ices related to such purposes; and 21
(8) to take any other action that is reasonably 22
necessary and not inconsistent with the Act to carry 23
out the purposes of this Act. 24
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•HR 3127 IH
SEC. 204. DIRECTOR. 1
(a) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The Director of the Office— 2
(1) shall be a licensed attorney in good standing 3
in any United States jurisdiction at the time of his 4
or her appointment and at all times during his or 5
her service as the Director; 6
(2) shall be experienced in representing people 7
in proceedings described in section 292 of the Immi-8
gration and Nationality Act, as amended by section 9
101 of this Act; and 10
(3) may not be a member of the Board. 11
(b) D
UTIES.—The Director shall— 12
(1) appoint and fix the compensation of employ-13
ees of the Office; 14
(2) establish a personnel management system 15
for the Office that provides for the appointment, 16
pay, promotion, and assignment of all employees on 17
the basis of merit, but without regard to the provi-18
sions of subchapter I of chapter 33 of title 5, United 19
States, Code (relating to appointments in the com-20
petitive service) or the provisions of chapter 51 and 21
subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title (relating 22
to classification and General Schedule pay rates); 23
(3) employ such personnel as may be necessary 24
to advance the purposes of the Office, subject to 25
staffing and budget approval of the Board; 26
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•HR 3127 IH
(4) provide an annual report to the Board re-1
garding the activities of the Office; 2
(5) provide such periodic reports and work 3
product to the Board sufficient for the Board to ful-4
fill its duties under section 203(k); 5
(6) allocate and disburse funds appropriated for 6
legal representation and related services in cases 7
subject to this Act pursuant to rules and procedures 8
established by the Board; 9
(7) enter into contracts to provide or receive 10
services with any public or private agency, group, or 11
individual; 12
(8) appoint a Local Administrator for each re-13
gion to administer and approve, subject to the poli-14
cies established by the Board, the payment of funds 15
necessary for Panel Attorney representation, includ-16
ing Panel Attorney compensation, investigators, ex-17
perts, and other providers of representation services, 18
and any other necessary expenses for effective rep-19
resentation; 20
(9) assist the Board in developing rules and 21
standards for the delivery of services under this Act; 22
(10) coordinate the services funded by the Of-23
fice with any Federal, state, county, local, or private 24
programs established to provide legal assistance to 25
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•HR 3127 IH
persons in cases subject to this Act who are unable 1
to afford representation; 2
(11) consult with professional bodies concerning 3
improving the administration of legal representation 4
for persons in proceedings described in section 292 5
of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended 6
by section 101 of this Act; and 7
(12) perform such other duties as may be as-8
signed by the Board. 9
SEC. 205. EMPLOYEES. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Employees of the Office shall be 11
treated as employees of the Federal Government solely for 12
purposes of— 13
(1) subchapter 1 of chapter 81 of title 5, 14
United States Code (relating to compensation for 15
work injuries); 16
(2) chapter 83 of such title 5 (relating to retire-17
ment); 18
(3) chapter 84 of such title 5 (relating to the 19
Federal Employees’ Retirement System); 20
(4) chapter 87 of such title 5 (relating to life 21
insurance); and 22
(5) chapter 89 of such title 5 (relating to health 23
insurance). 24
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•HR 3127 IH
(b) EMPLOYERCONTRIBUTIONS.—The Office shall 1
make contributions on behalf of employees of the Office 2
under the provisions referred to in subsection (a) at the 3
same rates applicable to employees of agencies of the Fed-4
eral Government. 5
(c) T
HRIFTSAVINGSPLAN.—Employees of the Office 6
may make an election under section 8351 or 8432 of title 7
5, United States Code, to participate in the Thrift Savings 8
Plan for Federal employees. 9
SEC. 206. LOCAL IMMIGRATION REPRESENTATION BOARDS. 10
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 months after 11
the establishment of the Board, the Office shall delineate 12
administrative regions throughout the United States and 13
establish a local immigration representation board for 14
each region. 15
(b) C
OMPOSITION OFLOCALBOARDS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), 17
each Local Board shall consist of not fewer than 5 18
members and not greater than 15 members, who 19
shall initially be selected by the Board after con-20
sultation with stakeholders in the Local Board’s re-21
gion, including immigration legal service providers, 22
community-based organizations, and people who are 23
or have been subject to proceedings described in sec-24
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•HR 3127 IH
tion 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 1
amended by section 101. 2
(2) A
TTORNEYS.—Not fewer than 50 percent of 3
the members of the Local Board selected pursuant 4
to paragraph (1) shall be— 5
(A) licensed attorneys with experience in 6
the practice of removal defense; or 7
(B) employees of community-based organi-8
zations providing services to immigrants. 9
(3) S
UBSEQUENT MEMBERS .—After the initial 10
members are selected pursuant to paragraph (1), 11
each Local Board shall select its own members in 12
accordance with bylaws that have been approved by 13
the Office. 14
(c) Q
UALIFICATION OFMEMBERS.— 15
(1) E
XPERIENCE; COMMITMENT.—Members of 16
a Local Board shall have— 17
(A) significant experience defending cases 18
described in section 292 of the Immigration and 19
Nationality Act, as amended by section 101; 20
and 21
(B) demonstrated a strong commitment to 22
representation in indigent defense matters. 23
(2) D
IVERSITY.—The composition of each Local 24
Boards shall reflect the diversity of the population 25
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•HR 3127 IH
that counsel appointed pursuant to such section 292 1
are responsible for representing, including diversity 2
of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigra-3
tion experience, and socioeconomic background. 4
(3) R
ESTRICTIONS.—A member of a Local 5
Board may not— 6
(A) be an employee of an Immigration 7
Public Defender Organization or Community 8
Defender Organization with a contract to pro-9
vide representation under such section 292; 10
(B) be a member of an Attorney Panel re-11
ferred to in section 207(d); 12
(C) be a judicial officer of the United 13
States or of a State, territory, district, posses-14
sion, or commonwealth of the United States; 15
(D) be employed as a prosecutor, a law en-16
forcement official, or a judicial official, or by a 17
prosecutorial or law enforcement agency; or 18
(E) have held a position described in sub-19
paragraph (D) during the 3-year period imme-20
diately preceding his or her appointment to the 21
Board. 22
(d) T
ERM OFMEMBERS OF ALOCALBOARD.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Members of a Local Board 24
shall serve 4-year terms, except that the terms of 25
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•HR 3127 IH
the initial members shall be staggered so that the 1
term of not more than 50 percent of the members 2
expire during any calendar year. 3
(2) M
AXIMUM LENGTH OF SERVICE .—A person 4
may not serve for more than 9 years on a Local 5
Board. 6
(3) R
EPLACEMENT MEMBERS .—A person who 7
is appointed to replace a member who has resigned 8
or was removed shall serve the remainder of the 9
term of such departing person. 10
(e) C
OMPENSATION OF MEMBERS OF A LOCAL 11
B
OARD.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Members of any Local 13
Board shall be paid for their service at the daily rate 14
at which judges of the United States courts of ap-15
peals are compensated, but may not be paid for 16
more than 90 days of such service in any calendar 17
year. 18
(2) T
RAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of any Local 19
Board shall receive travel expenses, including per 20
diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with appli-21
cable provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of 22
title 5, United States Code. 23
(f) C
HAIR OFLOCALBOARD.—Each Local Board 24
shall elect a member of the Local Board to serve as chair 25
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•HR 3127 IH
for 2 years, which term shall begin on the date of election. 1
Such chair may be reelected to extend such service for an 2
additional 2-year term. 3
(g) R
EMOVAL OFMEMBER OFLOCALBOARD.—Each 4
Local Board, by a majority vote of the full membership, 5
may remove a member from the Local Board for— 6
(1) malfeasance in office; 7
(2) persistent neglect of, or inability to dis-8
charge, Local Board duties; or 9
(3) conduct unbecoming of a member of the 10
Local Board. 11
(h) Q
UORUM OFLOCALBOARD.—A majority of the 12
full membership of the Local Board shall constitute a 13
quorum for the purpose of conducting business. 14
(i) L
OCALBOARDGOVERNANCE.—Each Local Board 15
shall adopt bylaws governing the operation of the Local 16
Board, which may include provisions authorizing other of-17
ficers of the Local Board and proxy voting. 18
(j) D
ISSOLUTION OFLOCALBOARDS.—The Board, 19
upon a 
2
⁄3vote, may dissolve a Local Board for good 20
cause. Upon dissolution, the Office shall ensure that a new 21
Local Board is established not later than 90 days of dis-22
solution. The new members of the Local Board shall be 23
selected by the majority votes of the Immigration Public 24
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•HR 3127 IH
Defenders and the Panel Attorney representatives of the 1
district or districts to be served and the Director. 2
(k) D
UTIES OFLOCALBOARDS.— 3
(1) L
OCAL PLANS.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Each Local Board— 5
(i) not later than 120 days after the 6
Local Board is established, shall develop 7
and submit to the Office for approval a 8
Local Plan for the provision of representa-9
tion services for the region served by the 10
Local Board; 11
(ii) shall implement the Local Plan 12
after it has been approved by the Office; 13
(iii) may modify the Local Plan at 14
any time, subject to the approval of the 15
Office; and 16
(iv) shall modify the Local Plan if so 17
directed by the Office. 18
(B) C
OMPONENTS; DEVELOPMENT.—Each 19
Local Plan developed pursuant to subparagraph 20
(A)— 21
(i) shall provide for the appointment 22
of counsel in a timely manner in accord-23
ance with this Act; 24
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•HR 3127 IH
(ii) shall be developed in consultation 1
with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 2
Services to ensure that it adequately en-3
compasses proceedings described in section 4
292 of the Immigration and Nationality 5
Act that are within the jurisdiction of U.S. 6
Citizenship and Immigration Services; 7
(iii) shall consider the existence of any 8
State, county, or locally funded programs 9
providing representation to people in pro-10
ceedings described in such section 292; 11
(iv) may provide grants or reimburse-12
ments to jurisdictions with programs de-13
scribed in clause (iii) that provide rep-14
resentation that furthers the purposes of 15
this Act; 16
(v) shall prioritize such grants or re-17
imbursements for State, county, and lo-18
cally funded programs that provide rep-19
resentation to people involved in a pro-20
ceeding described in such section 292 with-21
out regard to any past interaction with the 22
immigration or criminal legal systems; 23
(vi) may, in accordance with section 24
207— 25
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(I) establish 1 or more Immigra-1
tion Public Defender Organizations; 2
and 3
(II) contract with 1 or more 4
Community Defender Organizations; 5
(vii) shall provide for the establish-6
ment of a panel of private attorneys to 7
provide representation under such section 8
292, in accordance with section 207 of this 9
Act; and 10
(viii) shall provide a plan for holding 11
community engagement meetings that are 12
open to the public not less frequently than 13
twice during each fiscal year. 14
(C) L
OCAL PLANS WITH BORDER -BASED 15
COMPONENTS.— 16
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Local Plan for 17
each region that is adjacent to the inter-18
national border between the United States 19
and Mexico border shall provide for rep-20
resentation to all people subject to a pro-21
ceeding described in section 292 of the Im-22
migration and Nationality Act, as amended 23
by section 101 of this Act. 24
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(ii) IDENTIFYING COUNSEL .—The 1
Local Board of each region described in 2
clause (i) may utilize the entities specified 3
in section 207 and Attorney of the Day, 4
attorney fellowship, and other models— 5
(I) to provide limited representa-6
tion to people in proceedings at the 7
border; and 8
(II) to coordinate case transfers 9
and referrals for legal representation 10
for people who are subsequently re-11
leased from, or transferred within, the 12
custody of the Department of Home-13
land Security or the Office of Refugee 14
Resettlement. 15
(2) A
PPOINTMENTS TO IMMIGRATION REP -16
RESENTATION ADVISORY BOARD .—If a Local Plan 17
does not provide for the establishment of an Immi-18
gration Public Defender Organization or contracting 19
with a Community Defender Organization in the re-20
gion, the Local Board shall appoint representatives 21
to the Immigration Representation Advisory Board 22
established under section 210(a). 23
(3) L
OCAL ADMINISTRATOR .—Each Local 24
Board shall appoint, subject to the approval of the 25
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Office, a Local Administrator and such staff as may 1
be necessary to assist the Local Board in admin-2
istering the selection and appointment of Panel At-3
torneys. 4
(4) I
MMIGRATION PUBLIC DEFENDER .—If a 5
Local Plan includes the establishment of 1 or more 6
Immigration Public Defender Organizations, the 7
Local Board shall— 8
(A) select 1 or more Immigration Public 9
Defenders, who shall serve in accordance with 10
section 207(b), for the region or a portion of 11
the region that will be served by the Local 12
Board; 13
(B) periodically evaluate the performance 14
of the Immigration Public Defender; and 15
(C) submit the results of the evaluations 16
required under subparagraph (B), as directed 17
by the Office. 18
(5) D
UTIES OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR .—Each 19
Local Administrator shall— 20
(A) review, and certify for payment, all 21
vouchers received from Panel Attorneys to com-22
pensate them for— 23
(i) their time spent representing cli-24
ents appointed to them pursuant to section 25
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292 of the Immigration and Nationality 1
Act, as amended by section 101 of this 2
Act; and 3
(ii) the costs of investigators, experts, 4
interpreters, and other providers of defense 5
services for work performed on behalf of 6
the Panel Attorneys and their clients; 7
(B) authorize reasonable expenditures for 8
transcripts and the services of paralegals and 9
other legal support personnel, to the extent nec-10
essary; 11
(C) prepare, at the direction of the Office, 12
an annual budget for the provision of represen-13
tation services under such section 292, except 14
for representation services provided by an Im-15
migration Public Defender Office; 16
(D) implement procedures established by 17
the Office, permitting a Panel Attorney or other 18
representative appointed under such section 19
292 to appeal a decision of the Local Adminis-20
trator concerning compensation or reimburse-21
ment; and 22
(E) perform other duties related to the au-23
thorization, payment, and budgeting of ex-24
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•HR 3127 IH
penses related to Panel Attorneys, as assigned 1
by the Director. 2
(6) R
EPRESENTATION OF FINANCIALLY ELIGI -3
BLE PERSONS.—The Local Board shall establish 4
procedures for the appointment of counsel for any 5
person who— 6
(A) is subject to a proceeding described in 7
section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality 8
Act, as amended by section 101; and 9
(B) is financially unable to obtain high- 10
quality representation. 11
SEC. 207. TYPES OF IMMIGRATION DEFENDERS. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—To ensure representation of all el-13
igible persons in proceedings described in section 292 of 14
the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by sec-15
tion 101, the Local Board may— 16
(1) establish 1 or more Immigration Public De-17
fender Organizations in the region comprising the 18
Local Board’s jurisdiction; 19
(2) contract with existing Community Defender 20
Organizations; and 21
(3) establish a Panel Attorney system. 22
(b) I
MMIGRATIONPUBLICDEFENDER.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An Immigration Public De-24
fender Organization shall consist of 1or more full- 25
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time salaried attorneys. Each Immigration Public 1
Defender Organization shall be supervised by an Im-2
migration Public Defender appointed by the Local 3
Board that established the organization, subject to 4
the approval of the Office and without regard to the 5
provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing 6
appointments in the competitive service. 7
(2) R
EMOVAL.— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Immigration Pub-9
lic Defender shall serve at the pleasure of the 10
Local Board, but may be removed by the Direc-11
tor for— 12
(i) malfeasance in office; 13
(ii) persistent neglect or inability to 14
discharge the duties of an Immigration 15
Public Defender; or 16
(iii) conduct unbecoming of a rep-17
resentative of the Office. 18
(B) N
ONFACTORS FOR JUSTIFYING RE -19
MOVAL.—The efforts and advocacy of an Immi-20
gration Public Defender to ensure that the Of-21
fice carries out its responsibilities under this 22
Act, including ensuring parity of resources, pro-23
tecting counsel’s duty to provide representation, 24
and ensuring manageable caseloads consistent 25
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with that duty, may not serve as a basis for re-1
moval or for initiating proceedings for removal 2
against the Immigration Public Defender. 3
(3) C
ONTINUED SERVICE UNTIL APPOINTMENT 4
OF SUCCESSOR.—Upon the expiration of the term of 5
service for which he or she was appointed, an Immi-6
gration Public Defender may continue to perform 7
the duties of such office, in accordance with rules es-8
tablished by the Local Board, until the earlier of— 9
(A) the date on which a successor is ap-10
pointed; or 11
(B) the date that is 1 year after the expi-12
ration of such term. 13
(4) C
OMPENSATION.—The compensation of 14
each Immigration Public Defender shall be fixed by 15
the Local Board at a rate that is comparable to— 16
(A) the rate of compensation received by 17
the Principal Legal Advisor of U.S. Immigra-18
tion and Customs Enforcement who is prac-19
ticing in the nearest court where representation 20
is furnished; or 21
(B) if more than 1 court is involved, the 22
rate of compensation that is paid to the higher 23
paid Principal Legal Advisor in such courts. 24
(5) A
DDITIONAL PERSONNEL .— 25
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(A) APPOINTMENTS.—The Immigration 1
Public Defender may appoint, without regard to 2
the provisions of title 5, United States Code, 3
governing appointments in the competitive serv-4
ice, full-time attorneys in such number as may 5
be approved by the Office and other personnel 6
in such number as may be approved. 7
(B) C
OMPENSATION.—Compensation paid 8
to the attorneys and other personnel approved 9
by the Office pursuant to subparagraph (A) 10
shall be fixed by the Immigration Public De-11
fender at a rate that is comparable to— 12
(i) the rate of compensation that is 13
paid to attorneys and other personnel of 14
similar qualifications and experience in the 15
Office of the Principal Legal Advisor in 16
the nearest court where representation is 17
furnished; or 18
(ii) if more than 1 court is involved, 19
the rate of compensation that is paid to 20
the higher paid person of similar qualifica-21
tions and experience in such courts. 22
(6) T
REATMENT AS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 23
EMPLOYEES.—Employees of an Immigration Public 24
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Defender Organization shall be treated as employees 1
of the Federal Government solely for purposes of— 2
(A) subchapter 1 of chapter 81 of title 5, 3
United States Code (relating to compensation 4
for work injuries); 5
(B) chapter 83 of such title 5 (relating to 6
retirement); 7
(C) chapter 84 of such title 5 (relating to 8
the Federal Employees’ Retirement System); 9
(D) chapter 87 of such title 5 (relating to 10
life insurance); and 11
(E) chapter 89 of such title 5 (relating to 12
health insurance). 13
(7) R
ESTRICTION.—An Immigration Public De-14
fender and any attorney appointed to serve in an 15
Immigration Public Defender Organization is pro-16
hibited from engaging in the private practice of law. 17
(8) L
IMITED LIABILITY.—The Office, to the ex-18
tent the Director considers appropriate, shall provide 19
representation for and hold harmless, or provide li-20
ability insurance for, any person who is an officer or 21
employee of an Immigration Public Defender Orga-22
nization. 23
(9) R
EPORTS.—Each Immigration Public De-24
fender Organization shall submit periodic reports of 25
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•HR 3127 IH
its activities and financial positions and its proposed 1
budget to the Local Board at the times and in the 2
form prescribed by the Local Board. 3
(c) C
OMMUNITYDEFENDERORGANIZATIONS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A Community Defender Or-5
ganization shall be a nonprofit legal representation 6
service established and administered by any group 7
authorized by the Local Plan to provide representa-8
tion to individuals subject to proceedings described 9
in section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality 10
Act, as amended by section 101. 11
(2) A
NNUAL REPORT.—Each Community De-12
fender Organization shall submit an annual report 13
to the Local Board that sets forth its activities dur-14
ing the previous fiscal year and the anticipated case-15
load and expenses for the upcoming fiscal year. 16
(d) A
TTORNEYPANEL.—Each Local Plan developed 17
pursuant to section 206(k)(1) shall provide for— 18
(1) the appointment of qualified private attor-19
neys from an Attorney Panel within the region; 20
(2) the implementation of standards established 21
by the Office setting forth the minimum qualifica-22
tions for Panel Attorneys; and 23
(3) the establishment of a system to ensure 24
that— 25
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(A) the number of attorneys on each Attor-1
ney Panel is limited to provide each attorney 2
with sufficient appointments to maintain con-3
tinuing familiarity with immigration law and 4
procedure; 5
(B) there is early entry of counsel, includ-6
ing representation as soon as possible in all 7
proceedings described in section 292 of the Im-8
migration and Nationality Act, as amended by 9
section 101; 10
(C) there are adequate support services, 11
including training and technical support, for 12
members of each Attorney Panel for every area 13
in the region; 14
(D) conflicts of interests are avoided; and 15
(E) there is equal employment opportunity 16
for the employees of Immigration Public De-17
fender Organizations and Panel Attorneys. 18
SEC. 208. COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EX-19
PENSES OF COUNSEL. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Office shall establish the ap-21
propriate hourly rates and salaries to be paid to counsel 22
appointed under each Local Plan, which— 23
(1) shall be established at levels that will ensure 24
the provision of high-quality legal representation for 25
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•HR 3127 IH
all people represented in proceedings described in 1
section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 2
as amended by section 101; and 3
(2) shall be calculated to provide appointed 4
counsel with compensation that is comparable to the 5
compensation paid to— 6
(A) attorneys who are employed by the Of-7
fice of the Principal Legal Advisor of U.S. Im-8
migration and Customs Enforcement nearest to 9
the forum in which such counsel is providing 10
representation; 11
(B) attorneys employed by the cor-12
responding Federal prosecutor’s office; or 13
(C) any other attorney representing the 14
Government in connection with proceedings that 15
are comparable to proceedings described in such 16
section 292. 17
(b) U
SE OFBILLINGCAPS.—If the Office places caps 18
on total billing for legal representation, the Office shall 19
establish policies and procedures for counsel to request au-20
thorization to exceed such caps to the extent required to 21
ensure effective representation. 22
(c) F
EES; ADDITIONALCOMPENSATION.—The Office 23
shall establish— 24
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•HR 3127 IH
(1) distinct fees to apply to counsel providing 1
services in proceedings that fall within the geo-2
graphic jurisdiction of each of the United States 3
courts of appeal within each region delineated by the 4
Office pursuant to section 206(a), after taking into 5
account the prevailing wage rates for qualified attor-6
neys within the geographic area in which representa-7
tion will be provided under section 292 of the Immi-8
gration and Nationality Act, as amended by section 9
101; and 10
(2) additional compensation to be paid to coun-11
sel who provide representation under such section 12
292 to individuals in remote and underserved areas, 13
after taking into account the distance from the place 14
of business of such counsel to— 15
(A) the immigration courts; 16
(B) Department of Homeland Security and 17
Department of Health and Human Services fa-18
cilities; and 19
(C) other relevant sites where such rep-20
resentation is expected to be provided. 21
(d) R
EIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSES; SALARYIN-22
CREASES.— 23
(1) R
EIMBURSEMENTS.—Counsel providing rep-24
resentation under section 292 of the Immigration 25
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and Nationality Act, as amended by section 101, 1
shall be reimbursed by the Department of Homeland 2
Security for expenses reasonably incurred in the 3
course of such representation, including the costs of 4
transcripts, but may not be reimbursed by the Fed-5
eral Government for expenses related to defending 6
against malpractice claims. 7
(2) S
ALARY INCREASES.—The Office shall es-8
tablish policies and procedures governing increases 9
in hourly rates, salaries, and fees initially deter-10
mined under subsection (a) or (c). 11
(e) P
AYMENTS INEXCESS OFESTABLISHEDFEES.— 12
The Office shall establish policies and procedures for re-13
questing and approving payments in excess of the fees es-14
tablished under subsection (c) for extended or complex 15
representation if such excess payments are necessary to 16
provide fair compensation for the counsel providing such 17
representation. 18
SEC. 209. SERVICES OTHER THAN COUNSEL. 19
(a) S
ERVICESTOBEPREAPPROVED BY THE LOCAL 20
B
OARD.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Counsel appointed to rep-22
resent individuals in proceedings described in section 23
292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 24
amended by section 101, may request approval from 25
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•HR 3127 IH
the Local Board for investigative, expert, or other 1
services necessary for such representation pursuant 2
to procedures established by the Board, including 3
services necessary to develop release plans and pro-4
vide post-release services for people in the custody of 5
the Department of Homeland Security or the Office 6
of Refugee Resettlement. 7
(2) E
XAMPLES OF SERVICES .—Services subject 8
to preapproval under paragraph (1) may include— 9
(A) the retention of specialized counsel in 10
connection with ancillary matters appropriate to 11
such proceedings; 12
(B) services and support related to mental 13
health, housing, addiction, food, travel, and ac-14
companiment to immigration court proceedings; 15
(C) copying or obtaining discovery mate-16
rials that are in the possession, custody, or con-17
trol of the Government; or 18
(D) any other services required to ensure 19
effective representation or the interests of jus-20
tice. 21
(b) S
ERVICESTOBEAPPROVED BY THE LOCAL 22
B
OARDAFTER THEFACT.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Counsel appointed to rep-24
resent individuals in proceedings described in section 25
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292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 1
amended by section 101, may obtain, without prior 2
authorization, but subject to later review by the 3
Local Board, investigative, expert, and other services 4
if necessary for representation. 5
(2) P
AYMENT.—In the interests of justice and 6
upon a determination by the Local Board that time-7
ly procurement of certain necessary services could 8
not await prior authorization, payment for such 9
services may be approved by the Local Board after 10
they have been obtained. 11
(c) A
MOUNT OF COMPENSATION.—In determining 12
the appropriate compensation for services other than 13
counsel, the Office shall ensure that such compensation 14
is comparable to the compensation paid to the Government 15
for substantially similar services. 16
(d) P
OLICIES ANDPROCEDURES.—The Office shall 17
establish policies and procedures that— 18
(1) identify the circumstances under which— 19
(A) payment shall be made for services 20
other than counsel; and 21
(B) prior authorization for certain nec-22
essary services is not required; and 23
(2) permit counsel appointed to represent indi-24
viduals in proceedings described in section 292 of 25
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the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by 1
section 101, to seek increases in funding for such 2
services if counsel reasonably believes that the com-3
pensation established by the Office pursuant to sub-4
section (c) does not meet the parity requirement 5
under such subsection. 6
(e) F
INANCIALELIGIBILITYDETERMINATIONS.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Private counsel for any per-8
son who is financially unable to obtain services other 9
than counsel necessary for representation, including 10
services described in subsections (a) and (b), may re-11
quest that the Local Administrator make a deter-12
mination of the financial eligibility for such person 13
to receive Government funding for such services. 14
(2) P
AYMENT.—If the Local Administrator de-15
termines that a person described in paragraph (1) is 16
financially unable to obtain necessary services other 17
than counsel, the Local Administrator shall author-18
ize payment for such services pursuant to procedures 19
established by the Office. 20
SEC. 210. IMMIGRATION REPRESENTATION ADVISORY 21
BOARD. 22
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.— 23
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 1
there is established the Immigration Representation 2
Advisory Board, which shall consist of— 3
(A) 1 Immigration Public Defender rep-4
resentative from each region delineated pursu-5
ant to section 206(a), who shall be selected by 6
the Immigration Public Defenders within each 7
such region; 8
(B) 1 Community Defender Organization 9
representative from each region delineated pur-10
suant to section 206(a), who shall be selected 11
by the Community Defender Organizations 12
within each such region; and 13
(C) 1 Panel Attorney representative from 14
within the jurisdiction of each Federal circuit 15
court of appeals, who shall be selected by the 16
Panel Attorneys within each such circuit. 17
(2) A
LTERNATIVE SELECTION PROCESS .— 18
(A) N
O IMMIGRATION PUBLIC DEFENDER 19
OFFICE.—If a Local Plan does not provide for 20
the establishment of an Immigration Public De-21
fender Office, the relevant Local Board shall 22
appoint 2 Community Defender Organization 23
representatives to serve on the Immigration 24
Representation Advisory Board. 25
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(B) NO COMMUNITY DEFENDER ORGANIZA -1
TION.—If a Local Plan does not provide for a 2
contract with a Community Defender Organiza-3
tion, the relevant Local Board shall appoint 2 4
Immigration Public Defender Representatives 5
to serve on the Immigration Representation Ad-6
visory Board. 7
(b) T
ERM OFSERVICE.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Members of the Immigration 9
Representation Advisory Board shall serve 2-year 10
terms, except that the terms of 50 percent of the ini-11
tial members appointed pursuant to subsection (a) 12
shall be 1 year. 13
(2) M
AXIMUM CONSECUTIVE SERVICE .—No 14
member may serve on the Immigration Representa-15
tion Advisory Board for more than 6 consecutive 16
years. 17
(3) P
ARTIAL TERM APPOINTMENTS .—If a mem-18
ber of the Immigration Representation Advisory 19
Board does not serve until the end of his or her 20
term due to resignation or removal, the person ap-21
pointed to replace such member shall serve for the 22
remainder of such term. 23
(c) C
OMPENSATION.—Members of the Immigration 24
Representation Advisory Board shall serve without com-25
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•HR 3127 IH
pensation, but shall be reimbursed for all actual and nec-1
essary expenses reasonably incurred in the performance of 2
their duties as members of the Immigration Representa-3
tion Advisory Board. 4
(d) G
OVERNANCE; MEETINGS.—The Immigration 5
Representation Advisory Board shall— 6
(1) establish bylaws; 7
(2) select a chairperson from among its mem-8
bers; 9
(3) appoint other such officers as it deems nec-10
essary; and 11
(4) meet not less frequently than once each 12
year. 13
TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF 14
APPROPRIATIONS 15
SEC. 301. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-17
priated to the Office of Immigration Representation, out 18
of any money in the Treasury that is not otherwise appro-19
priated, such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 20
Act, and the amendments made by this Act, including— 21
(1) establishing and operating the Office; and 22
(2) providing continuing education and training 23
of counsel providing representation under section 24
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292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 1
amended by section 101. 2
(b) A
VAILABILITY OFFUNDS.—If so specified in ap-3
propriation Acts, amounts appropriated pursuant to sub-4
section (a) shall remain available until expended. Pay-5
ments from such appropriations shall be made under the 6
supervision of the Director of the Office of Immigration 7
Representation. 8
SEC. 302. MINIMUM FUNDING FOR THE OFFICE OF IMMI-9
GRATION REPRESENTATION. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The amount appropriated to the 11
Office of Immigration Representation for each fiscal year 12
shall be not less than the amount equal to the sum of 13
the combined amount appropriated for Federal immigra-14
tion enforcement and prosecution agencies and the Office, 15
multiplied by the ‘‘prosecution-defense’’ ratio calculated 16
pursuant to subsection (b). 17
(b) C
ALCULATION OF PROSECUTION-DEFENSE 18
R
ATIO.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-20
graph (2), the Office of Management and Budget 21
shall calculate the prosecution-defense ratio, for pur-22
poses of subsection (a), by dividing the sum appro-23
priated to the Office of Immigration Representation 24
account for the most recently concluded fiscal year 25
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by the combined amount appropriated for such fiscal 1
year for Federal immigration enforcement and pros-2
ecution agencies, including amounts appropriated 3
for— 4
(A) U.S. Immigration and Customs En-5
forcement; 6
(B) U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 7
and 8
(C) the Office of Immigration Litigation of 9
the Department of Justice. 10
(2) E
FFECT OF SHIFTING PROSECUTORIAL 11
FUNCTIONS.—If the law enforcement or prosecu-12
torial functions of the agencies or offices referred to 13
in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (1) 14
on the date of the enactment of this Act are per-15
formed by different agencies or offices in a future 16
fiscal year, the Office of Management and Budget 17
shall use the amount appropriated for those func-18
tions in calculating the prosecution-defense ratio 19
under paragraph (1). 20
Æ 
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