II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 391
To clarify the rights of certain persons who are held or detained at a
port of entry or at any facility overseen by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Mr. P
ADILLA(for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. COONS, Ms.
C
ORTEZMASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. HICKENLOOPER,
Ms. H
IRONO, Mr. MARKEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms.
W
ARREN, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To clarify the rights of certain persons who are held or
detained at a port of entry or at any facility overseen
by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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 ‘‘Access to Counsel Act 4
of 2025’’. 5
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•S 391 IS
SEC. 2. ACCESS TO COUNSEL AND OTHER ASSISTANCE AT 1
PORTS OF ENTRY AND DURING DEFERRED 2
INSPECTION. 3
(a) A
CCESS TOCOUNSEL ANDOTHERASSISTANCE 4
D
URINGINSPECTION.—Section 235 of the Immigration 5
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225) is amended by add-6
ing at the end the following: 7
‘‘(e) A
CCESS TOCOUNSEL ANDOTHERASSISTANCE 8
D
URINGINSPECTION ATPORTS OFENTRY ANDDURING 9
D
EFERREDINSPECTION.— 10
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 11
Security shall ensure that each covered individual 12
has a meaningful opportunity to consult with counsel 13
and an interested party during the inspection proc-14
ess. 15
‘‘(2) S
COPE OF ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 16
Homeland Security shall— 17
‘‘(A) provide each covered individual with a 18
meaningful opportunity to consult (including 19
consultation by telephone) with counsel and an 20
interested party not later than 1 hour after the 21
secondary inspection process commences and as 22
necessary throughout the remainder of the in-23
spection process, including, as applicable, dur-24
ing deferred inspection; 25
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•S 391 IS
‘‘(B) allow counsel and an interested party 1
to advocate on behalf of the covered individual, 2
including by providing to the examining immi-3
gration officer information, documentation, and 4
other evidence in support of the covered indi-5
vidual; and 6
‘‘(C) to the greatest extent practicable, ac-7
commodate a request by the covered individual 8
for counsel or an interested party to appear in 9
person at the secondary or deferred inspection 10
site. 11
‘‘(3) S
PECIAL RULE FOR LAWFUL PERMANENT 12
RESIDENTS.— 13
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 14
subparagraph (B), the Secretary of Homeland 15
Security may not accept a Form I–407 Record 16
of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident 17
Status (or a successor form) from a lawful per-18
manent resident subject to secondary or de-19
ferred inspection without first providing such 20
lawful permanent resident a meaningful oppor-21
tunity to seek advice from counsel. 22
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—The Secretary of 23
Homeland Security may accept a Form I–407 24
Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent 25
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Resident Status (or a successor form) from any 1
lawful permanent resident subject to secondary 2
or deferred inspection if such lawful permanent 3
resident knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily 4
waives, in writing, the opportunity to seek ad-5
vice from counsel. 6
‘‘(4) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
‘‘(A) C
OUNSEL.—The term ‘counsel’ 8
means— 9
‘‘(i) an attorney who is a member in 10
good standing of the bar of any State, the 11
District of Columbia, or a territory or a 12
possession of the United States and is not 13
under an order suspending, enjoining, re-14
straining, disbarring, or otherwise restrict-15
ing the attorney in the practice of law; or 16
‘‘(ii) an individual accredited by the 17
Attorney General, acting as a representa-18
tive of an organization recognized by the 19
Executive Office for Immigration Review, 20
to represent a covered individual in immi-21
gration matters. 22
‘‘(B) C
OVERED INDIVIDUAL .—The term 23
‘covered individual’ means an individual subject 24
to secondary or deferred inspection who is— 25
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‘‘(i) a national of the United States; 1
‘‘(ii) an immigrant, lawfully admitted 2
for permanent residence, who is returning 3
from a temporary visit abroad; 4
‘‘(iii) an alien seeking admission as an 5
immigrant in possession of a valid unex-6
pired immigrant visa; 7
‘‘(iv) an alien seeking admission as a 8
nonimmigrant in possession of a valid un-9
expired nonimmigrant visa; 10
‘‘(v) a refugee; 11
‘‘(vi) a returning asylee; or 12
‘‘(vii) an alien who has been approved 13
for parole under section 212(d)(5)(A), in-14
cluding an alien who is returning to the 15
United States in possession of a valid ad-16
vance parole document. 17
‘‘(C) I
NTERESTED PARTY .—The term ‘in-18
terested party’ means— 19
‘‘(i) a relative of the covered indi-20
vidual; 21
‘‘(ii) in the case of a covered indi-22
vidual to whom an immigrant or a non-23
immigrant visa has been issued, the peti-24
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•S 391 IS
tioner or sponsor thereof (including an 1
agent of such petitioner or sponsor); or 2
‘‘(iii) a person, organization, or entity 3
in the United States with a bona fide con-4
nection to the covered individual.’’. 5
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 6
subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 180 7
days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 8
(c) S
AVINGSPROVISION.—Nothing in this Act, or in 9
any amendment made by this Act, may be construed to 10
limit a right to counsel or any right to appointed counsel 11
under— 12
(1) section 240(b)(4)(A) of the Immigration 13
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(b)(4)(A)); 14
(2) section 292 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1362); or 15
(3) any other provision of law, including any 16
final court order securing such rights, 17
as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment 18
of this Act. 19
Æ
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