II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1297
To provide counsel for unaccompanied children, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL3, 2025
Ms. H
IRONO(for herself, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr.
C
OONS, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mr.
F
ETTERMAN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. KIM, Ms. KLO-
BUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. OSSOFF, Mr.
P
ADILLA, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. SMITH, Mr. VAN
H
OLLEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr.
W
YDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL
To provide counsel for unaccompanied children, and for other
purposes.
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. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Day in Court 4
for Kids Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) NONCITIZEN.—The term ‘‘noncitizen’’ 1
means an individual who is not a citizen or national 2
of the United States. 3
(2) U
NACCOMPANIED CHILD .—The term ‘‘unac-4
companied child’’ has the meaning given the term 5
‘‘unaccompanied alien child’’ in section 462(g) of the 6
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)). 7
SEC. 3. REFERENCES TO ALIENS. 8
With respect to an individual who is not a citizen or 9
national of the United States, any reference in this Act 10
to a ‘‘noncitizen’’ shall be deemed to refer to an individual 11
otherwise described as an ‘‘alien’’ in any Federal law, Fed-12
eral regulation, or any written instrument issued by the 13
executive branch of the Government. 14
SEC. 4. IMPROVING IMMIGRATION COURT EFFICIENCY AND 15
REDUCING COSTS BY INCREASING ACCESS 16
TO LEGAL INFORMATION. 17
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—Section 101(a) of the Immigra-18
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended 19
by adding at the end the following: 20
‘‘(53) The term ‘noncitizen’ means an individual who 21
is not a citizen or national of the United States. 22
‘‘(54) The term ‘unaccompanied child’ has the mean-23
ing given the term ‘unaccompanied alien child’ in section 24
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462(g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 1
279(g)).’’. 2
(b) A
PPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL INREMOVALPRO-3
CEEDINGS; RIGHTTOREVIEWCERTAINDOCUMENTS IN 4
R
EMOVALPROCEEDINGS.—Section 240(b) of the Immi-5
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(b)) is 6
amended— 7
(1) in paragraph (4)— 8
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 9
(A), by striking ‘‘under regulations of the At-10
torney General’’ and inserting ‘‘under regula-11
tions of the Attorney General, or in the case of 12
an unaccompanied child, under regulations of 13
the Secretary of Health and Human Services’’; 14
(B) in subparagraph (A)— 15
(i) by striking ‘‘, at no expense to the 16
Government,’’; and 17
(ii) by striking the comma at the end 18
and inserting a semicolon; 19
(C) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 20
and (C) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respec-21
tively; 22
(D) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 23
the following: 24
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‘‘(B) the Attorney General, or in the case 1
of an unaccompanied child, the Secretary of 2
Health and Human Services, may appoint or 3
provide counsel, at Government expense, to 4
noncitizens in immigration proceedings; 5
‘‘(C) the noncitizen, or the noncitizen’s 6
counsel, not later than 7 days after receiving a 7
notice to appear under section 239(a), shall re-8
ceive a complete copy of the noncitizen’s immi-9
gration file (commonly known as an ‘A-file’) in 10
the possession of the Department of Homeland 11
Security (other than documents protected from 12
disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, 13
United States Code);’’; and 14
(E) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated, 15
by striking ‘‘, and’’ and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 16
(2) by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(8) F
AILURE TO PROVIDE NONCITIZEN RE -18
QUIRED DOCUMENTS .—A removal proceeding may 19
not proceed until the noncitizen, or the noncitizen’s 20
counsel if the noncitizen is represented— 21
‘‘(A) has received the documents required 22
under paragraph (4)(C); and 23
‘‘(B) has been provided at least 10 days to 24
review and assess such documents, unless the 25
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noncitizen or the noncitizen’s counsel expressly 1
waives such review period.’’. 2
(c) C
LARIFICATIONREGARDING THEAUTHORITY OF 3
THEFEDERALGOVERNMENTTOAPPOINTCOUNSEL TO 4
N
ONCITIZENS INIMMIGRATIONPROCEEDINGS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 292 of the Immigra-6
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1362) is amend-7
ed to read as follows: 8
‘‘SEC. 292. RIGHT TO COUNSEL. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—In any removal proceeding be-10
fore the Attorney General, an appeal from such a removal 11
proceeding, and any related matter before the Department 12
of Homeland Security or a State court, an unaccompanied 13
child shall have the privilege of being represented by such 14
counsel as may be authorized to practice in such pro-15
ceeding or matter as he or she may choose. This sub-16
section shall not apply to screening proceedings described 17
in section 235(b)(1)(A). 18
‘‘(b) A
CCESS TOCOUNSEL FOR UNACCOMPANIED 19
C
HILDREN.— 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In any removal proceeding 21
before the Attorney General, an appeal from such a 22
removal proceeding, and any related matter before 23
the Department of Homeland Security or a State 24
court, an unaccompanied child shall be represented 25
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by counsel appointed or provided by the Secretary of 1
Health and Human Services, at Government ex-2
pense, unless the child has obtained at his or her 3
own expense counsel authorized to practice in such 4
proceeding or matter. 5
‘‘(2) T
IMING.—The Secretary of Health and 6
Human Services shall appoint or provide counsel to 7
an unaccompanied child under paragraph (1) as ex-8
peditiously as possible after the earlier of— 9
‘‘(A) the date on which a Notice to Appear 10
for removal proceedings is issued to the unac-11
companied child, regardless of whether the No-12
tice to Appear has been filed with an immigra-13
tion court; or 14
‘‘(B) the date on which the unaccompanied 15
child is placed in the custody of the Secretary 16
of Health and Human Services. 17
‘‘(3) L
ENGTH OF REPRESENTATION .—An unac-18
companied child shall be represented by counsel 19
under paragraph (1) at every stage of the pro-20
ceedings, beginning with the unaccompanied child’s 21
initial appearance before an official with adjudica-22
tory authority in removal proceedings or in related 23
matters before the Department of Homeland Secu-24
rity or a State court, through the termination of im-25
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migration proceedings and resolution of any related 1
matter before the Department of Homeland Security 2
or a State court, even if the child attains 18 years 3
of age or is reunified with a parent or legal guardian 4
while the proceedings are pending. 5
‘‘(4) C
ONTINUITY IN REPRESENTATION .—If 6
counsel retained by an unaccompanied child at his or 7
her own expense ceases representing the child for 8
any reason, the Secretary of Health and Human 9
Services shall ensure continued representation of the 10
child by appointing or providing new counsel as ex-11
peditiously as possible. 12
‘‘(5) N
OTICE.—Not later than 72 hours after 13
an unaccompanied child is taken into Federal cus-14
tody, the child shall be notified that he or she will 15
be provided with legal counsel in accordance with 16
this subsection. 17
‘‘(6) W
ITHIN DETENTION FACILITIES .—The 18
Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that 19
unaccompanied children have access to counsel in-20
side all detention, holding, and border facilities. 21
‘‘(c) P
ROBONOREPRESENTATION.— 22
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—To the maximum extent 23
practicable, the Secretary of Health and Human 24
Services shall make every effort to use the services 25
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of competent counsel who agree to provide represen-1
tation to such children under subsection (b) without 2
charge to the child. 3
‘‘(2) D
EVELOPMENT OF NECESSARY INFRA -4
STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS .—The Secretary of 5
Health and Human Services shall establish the nec-6
essary infrastructure and systems for the appro-7
priate identification, recruitment, training, and over-8
sight of counsel available to provide assistance and 9
representation to unaccompanied children under sub-10
section (b) without charge to the child. 11
‘‘(d) M
ODELGUIDELINES ONLEGALREPRESENTA-12
TION OFCHILDREN.— 13
‘‘(1) D
EVELOPMENT OF GUIDELINES .—The Di-14
rector of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, in con-15
sultation with the Director of the Executive Office 16
for Immigration Review, the Secretary of Homeland 17
Security, and nongovernmental stakeholders with 18
relevant expertise in providing immigration-related 19
legal services to children, shall develop model guide-20
lines for the legal representation of unaccompanied 21
children in immigration proceedings, which shall be 22
based on— 23
‘‘(A) the 2018 report of the American Bar 24
Association entitled ‘Standards for the Custody, 25
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Placement and Care; Legal Representation; and 1
Adjudication of Unaccompanied Alien Children 2
in the United States’; 3
‘‘(B) the American Bar Association Model 4
Rules of Professional Conduct; and 5
‘‘(C) any other source the Director of the 6
Office of Refugee Resettlement considers appro-7
priate. 8
‘‘(2) P
URPOSE OF GUIDELINES .—The guide-9
lines developed under paragraph (1) shall be de-10
signed to help protect each child from any individual 11
suspected of involvement in any criminal, harmful, 12
or exploitative activity associated with the smuggling 13
or trafficking of children, while ensuring the fairness 14
of the immigration proceeding in which the child is 15
involved. 16
‘‘(e) D
UTIES OFCOUNSEL.—The duties of counsel 17
appointed or provided under this section shall include— 18
‘‘(1) representing the unaccompanied alien child 19
concerned— 20
‘‘(A) in all proceedings and matters relat-21
ing to the immigration status of the child; and 22
‘‘(B) with respect to any other action in-23
volving the Department of Homeland Security; 24
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‘‘(2) appearing in person for each of the 1
child’s— 2
‘‘(A) individual merits hearings and master 3
calendar hearings before the Executive Office 4
for Immigration Review; and 5
‘‘(B) interviews involving the Department 6
of Homeland Security; 7
‘‘(3) owing the same duties of undivided loyalty, 8
confidentiality, and competent representation to the 9
child as is due to an adult client; 10
‘‘(4) advocating for the child’s legal interests, 11
as directed by the child’s express wishes; 12
‘‘(5) in the case of a child who does not express 13
the objectives of representation, or is found incom-14
petent, referring the child for the appointment of an 15
independent child advocate, as described in section 16
235(c)(6) of the William Wilberforce Trafficking 17
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 18
U.S.C. 1232(c)(6)); and 19
‘‘(6) carrying out other such duties as may be 20
prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human 21
Services or the Director of the Executive Office for 22
Immigration Review. 23
‘‘(f) S
AVINGSPROVISION.—Nothing in this section 24
may be construed to supersede— 25
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‘‘(1) any duties, responsibilities, disciplinary, or 1
ethical responsibilities an attorney may have to his 2
or her client under State law; 3
‘‘(2) the admission requirements under State 4
law; or 5
‘‘(3) any other State law pertaining to the ad-6
mission to the practice of law in a particular juris-7
diction.’’. 8
(2) R
ULEMAKING.—The Secretary of Health 9
and Human Services shall promulgate regulations to 10
implement section 292 of the Immigration and Na-11
tionality Act, as added by paragraph (1), in accord-12
ance with the requirements set forth in section 13
3006A of title 18, United States Code. 14
SEC. 5. ACCESS BY COUNSEL TO DEPARTMENT OF HOME-15
LAND SECURITY FACILITIES. 16
The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide ac-17
cess to counsel for all noncitizens detained in— 18
(1) a facility under the supervision of U.S. Im-19
migration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Cus-20
toms and Border Protection; or 21
(2) a private facility that contracts with the De-22
partment of Homeland Security to house, detain, or 23
hold noncitizens. 24
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SEC. 6. REPORT ON ACCESS TO COUNSEL. 1
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than December 31 of each 2
year, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in con-3
sultation with the Attorney General, shall prepare and 4
submit a report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the 5
Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House 6
of Representatives regarding the extent to which the Sec-7
retary has provided counsel for unaccompanied children 8
as described in subsection (b) of section 292 of the Immi-9
gration and Nationality Act, as amended by section 4(c). 10
(b) C
ONTENTS.—Each report submitted under para-11
graph (a) shall include, for the immediately preceding 1- 12
year period— 13
(1) the number and percentage of unaccom-14
panied children described in subsection (b) of section 15
292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 16
amended by section 4(c), who were represented by 17
counsel, including information specifying— 18
(A) the stage of the legal process at which 19
representation of each such child commenced; 20
(B) whether each such child was in govern-21
ment custody on the date on which such rep-22
resentation commenced; and 23
(C) the nationality and ages of such chil-24
dren; 25
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(2) the number and percentage of children who 1
received Know Your Rights presentations or legal 2
screenings, including the nationality and ages of 3
such children; and 4
(3) a description of the mechanisms used under 5
subsection (b) of section 292 of the Immigration and 6
Nationality Act, as added by section 4(c), for identi-7
fying, recruiting, and training pro bono counsel to 8
represent unaccompanied children. 9
SEC. 7. MOTIONS TO REOPEN. 10
Section 240(c)(7)(C) of the Immigration and Nation-11
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(7)(C)) is amended by adding 12
at the end the following: 13
‘‘(v) S
PECIAL RULE FOR UNACCOM -14
PANIED CHILDREN ENTITLED TO APPOINT -15
MENT OF COUNSEL .—If the Secretary of 16
Health and Human Services fails to ap-17
point or provide counsel for an unaccom-18
panied child under section 292(b)— 19
‘‘(I) the limitations under this 20
paragraph with respect to the filing of 21
a motion to reopen by such child shall 22
not apply; and 23
‘‘(II) the filing of such a motion 24
shall stay the removal of the child.’’. 25
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SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-2
priated to the Office of Refugee Resettlement such sums 3
as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 4
(b) B
UDGETARYEFFECTS.—The budgetary effects of 5
this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory 6
Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by ref-7
erence to the latest statement titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects 8
of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this Act, submitted for print-9
ing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the 10
Senate Budget Committee, provided that such statement 11
has been submitted prior to the vote on passage. 12
Æ
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