I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8980 

To authorize the Attorney General to provide grants to States, units of 

local government, and organizations to support the recruitment, training, 

and development of staff and infrastructure needed to support the due 

process rights of individuals facing deportation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 10, 2024 

Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California (for himself, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mrs. TORRES

of California, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. GOLDMAN of New York, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. LEE of 

Pennsylvania, Ms. SALINAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. JACKSON

LEE, Ms. OMAR, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. FROST, and Mr. CASAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to provide grants to 

States, units of local government, and organizations to 

support the recruitment, training, and development of 

staff and infrastructure needed to support the due process rights of individuals facing deportation. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Help for Im3 migrants through Education and Legal Development Act’’ 

4 or the ‘‘SHIELD Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) SERVICE AREA.—The term ‘‘service area’’ 

8 means the jurisdiction or geographical area in which 

9 an entity carries out activities using funds awarded 

10 under this Act. 

11 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

12 the several States, the District of Columbia, the 

13 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States 

14 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

15 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

16 (3) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 

17 ‘‘unit of local government’’ has the meaning given 

18 such term in section 901(a)(3) of the Omnibus 

19 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

20 U.S.C. 10251(a)(3)). 

21 (4) INDIVIDUAL FACING DEPORTATION.—the 

22 term ‘‘individual facing deportation’’ means an indi23 vidual in a proceeding under section 212(d)(5)(A), 

24 235(b)(1)(B), 236, 238, 240, or 241 of the Immi25 gration and Nationality Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ACCESS TO LEGAL COUN2 SEL. 

3 It is the sense of Congress that— 

4 (1) unlike in the criminal legal system, there is 

5 no right to government-funded legal representation 

6 for people facing the devastating consequences of de7 tention and deportation who cannot afford a lawyer, 

8 even children are not entitled to an attorney in these 

9 complex proceedings; 

10 (2) as a result, most people in removal pro11 ceedings, including an estimated 80 percent of indi12 viduals held in immigration detention during depor13 tation cases initiated in the past 20 years, are un14 represented and are forced to navigate the complex15 ities of immigration law against trained government 

16 prosecutors alone; 

17 (3) the consequences of detention or deporta18 tion are devastating, and can include the loss of lib19 erty, the denial of lawful immigration status or 

20 United States citizenship, loss of livelihood, separa21 tion from and inability to support family, and life22 threatening danger in the country of origin; 

23 (4) legal representation has been proven to sig24 nificantly increase the likelihood of someone being 

25 released from detention on bond and establishing a 

26 right to remain in the United States; 


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1 (5) studies show that detained immigrants with 

2 attorneys are 3.5 times more likely to be granted 

3 bond and people in detention with representation are 

4 up to 10.5 times more likely to obtain relief from de5 portation than those without representation, control6 ling for other factors; 

7 (6) for nondetained people, 60 percent of indi8 viduals with lawyers win their cases compared to 17 

9 percent of those without a lawyer; 

10 (7) the detention and deportation system dis11 proportionately impacts Black immigrants and rein12 forces systemic racism, and ensuring that immi13 grants have access to a lawyer reduces the harms of 

14 the racial inequities in the immigration system; 

15 (8) since 2013, local and State governments 

16 have led the charge on providing public funding for 

17 deportation defense for their residents facing depor18 tation, with over 55 local and State governments, in19 cluding 10 States, funding these programs; 

20 (9) the success of local and State publicly fund21 ed deportation defense programs demonstrate the 

22 positive impact that publicly funded universal rep23 resentation programs have on improving individual 

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1 gether, and avoiding the resulting social, economic, 

2 and public health costs of deportation; 

3 (10) while these local and State programs have 

4 made a significant impact, they are insufficient to 

5 meet the need for representation and the Federal 

6 Government must act to address the significant 

7 unmet need for legal defense in the Federal immi8 gration system by passing the Fairness to Freedom 

9 Act of 2023, which establishes a universal right to 

10 federally funded representation for anyone facing de11 portation, regardless of the individual’s ability to 

12 pay; 

13 (11) the growth of these local and State pro14 grams and the resulting staffing recruitment chal15 lenges have also further highlighted the acute need 

16 to develop and grow a legal and social services staff17 ing and infrastructure to address the unmet rep18 resentational needs for immigrants facing deporta19 tion; 

20 (12) infrastructure must be built to maintain a 

21 highly skilled and sustainable legal defense work22 force equipped with the tools to implement high23 quality, independent legal representation regardless 

24 of the individual’s ability to pay, prior contact with 


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1 the criminal legal system, or the nature or perceived 

2 strength of their legal defense; and 

3 (13) in its 2023 Report ‘‘Access to Justice in 

4 Federal Administrative Proceedings’’, the Legal Aid 

5 Interagency Roundtable outlines the harms that un6 represented individuals face in Federal administra7 tive proceedings, including immigration court, and 

8 their core strategy of increasing representation and 

9 assistance by lawyers and nonlawyers for people in 

10 administrative proceedings. 

11 SEC. 4. IMMIGRATION LEGAL SERVICES STAFF AND INFRA12 STRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, acting 

14 through the Director of the Office of Access to Justice, 

15 shall award competitive workforce development and capac16 ity building grants to eligible entities that are seeking to 

17 expand access to representation for individuals facing de18 portation by increasing the workforce and strengthening 

19 the legal services infrastructure needed to provide such 

20 representation. 

21 (b) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—An entity eligible to re22 ceive a grant under this section is a— 

23 (1) State or unit of local government that has 

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1 resentation, legal assistance, community navigation, 

2 and related services, to individuals facing deporta3 tion; 

4 (2) a community-based organization, nonprofit 

5 organization, or educational institution that provides 

6 or coordinates immigration-related legal services to 

7 individuals facing deportation; or 

8 (3) a community-based organization, nonprofit 

9 organization, or educational institution that recruits, 

10 trains, or mentors individuals who provide or will 

11 provide immigration-related legal services to individ12 uals facing deportation. 

13 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a grant 

14 under this section shall submit to the Director of the Of15 fice of Access to Justice an application at such time, in 

16 such manner, and containing such information as the Di17 rector may reasonably require. 

18 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds awarded under this sec19 tion shall be used to develop a workforce scaled to meet 

20 the representation needs of all individuals facing deporta21 tion, grow the immigration-related legal services infra22 structure, and enhance long-term capacity to provide high23 quality, holistic, and linguistically appropriate legal serv24 ices, which may include— 


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1 (1) workforce recruitment and training pro2 grams, such as educational, fellowship, clinical, job 

3 recruitment, and job training services aimed at in4 creasing the number of lawyers, accredited rep5 resentatives, social workers, and community naviga6 tors entering the immigration legal services field; 

7 (2) technical assistance services, such as— 

8 (A) substantive and technical skills-based 

9 trainings to improve the quality of representa10 tion provided to individuals facing deportation; 

11 (B) language training to ensure legal staff 

12 are equipped to provide linguistically appro13 priate services; 

14 (C) specialized legal support to support 

15 representation in complex defense cases, includ16 ing representation in Federal court and State 

17 court; and 

18 (D) leadership development, including 

19 management training and establishing appro20 priate supervisory systems; 

21 (3) local or regional coordination services to en22 sure a coordinated and efficient delivery of legal 

23 services to individuals facing deportation; 

24 (4) retention improvement strategies to ensure 

25 sustainable growth of the immigration-related legal 


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1 services field, including strategies to address case2 load management, burnout, and organizational sys3 tems; 

4 (5) recruiting and retaining legal staff from 

5 underrepresented backgrounds and promoting diver6 sity within the legal services field; 

7 (6) growing legal services infrastructure and 

8 representational capacity in locations with a signifi9 cant unmet need for legal representation and with 

10 significantly less immigration-related legal services 

11 capacity in their service area than national averages; 

12 and 

13 (7) physical, administrative, and technological 

14 infrastructure resources in coordination with a use 

15 of funds described in paragraphs (1) through (6). 

16 (e) CONTRACTS AND SUBAWARDS.—A recipient of a 

17 grant under this section may, for purposes authorized 

18 under subsection (d), use all or a portion of that grant 

19 to contract with or make one or more subawards to one 

20 or more— 

21 (1) community-based organization, nonprofit or22 ganization, private organization, or educational insti23 tution; or 

24 (2) units of local government. 


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1 (f) CONDITIONS.—As a condition of receiving a grant 

2 under this section, an eligible entity shall— 

3 (1) submit to the Attorney General a certifi4 cation that the proposed uses of grant funds by the 

5 entity— 

6 (A) are consistent with this section; and 

7 (B) meet the criteria determined by the 

8 Attorney General, in consultation with the Di9 rector of the Office of Access to Justice; and 

10 (2) not later than 90 days after the end of each 

11 fiscal year for which an entity receives grant funds 

12 under this section, submit to the Director of the Of13 fice of Access to Justice a report that describes— 

14 (A) the types of services being provided 

15 under the grant; 

16 (B) the service area; 

17 (C) the number of individuals recruited or 

18 retained through services funded under the 

19 grant; 

20 (D) the impact that staffing recruitment 

21 and retention has had on organizational capac22 ity to represent more individuals within the 

23 service area; 


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1 (E) the actual expenditures made in con2 nection with the grant, including personnel and 

3 staffing structure and indirect costs; 

4 (F) the outcomes of services; and 

5 (G) a description of the continuing unmet 

6 representation needs of individuals facing de7 portation in the service area and recommenda8 tions of supports and resources needed to meet 

9 them. 

10 (g) GRANT TERM.—The term of a grant under this 

11 section shall be 4 years, and such grant may be renewed. 

12 (h) SUPPLEMENT OF NON-FEDERAL FUNDS.—Any 

13 Federal funds received under this section shall be used 

14 to supplement, not supplant, Federal or non-Federal 

15 funds that would otherwise be available for activities fund16 ed under this section. 

17 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF THE ADMINISTERING 

18 AGENCY. 

19 (a) DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.—The Director of the 

20 Office of Access to Justice may promulgate such rules, 

21 policies, and procedures as may be necessary and appro22 priate to carry out the grant program under this Act, in23 cluding the following: 

24 (1) Establishing competitive grantmaking pro25 cedures to identify grant recipients. 


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1 (2) Targeting grants in a manner that best ac2 complishes the following objectives and priorities: 

3 (A) Advancing a legal services workforce 

4 trained and equipped to implement an inde5 pendent legal defense for individuals facing de6 portation that ensures high-quality, independent 

7 legal representation, regardless of ability to pay, 

8 prior contact with the criminal legal system, or 

9 the nature or perceived strength of their legal 

10 defense. 

11 (B) A national legal services infrastructure 

12 scaled to meet the representation needs of all 

13 individuals facing deportation. 

14 (C) Long-term growth of organizational or 

15 programmatic capacity to provide high-quality, 

16 holistic, and linguistically appropriate legal 

17 services to individuals facing deportation. 

18 (D) Providing support to State and local 

19 governments that have taken leadership and de20 veloped expertise in providing public funding for 

21 the legal defense of individuals facing deporta22 tion. 

23 (E) Addressing the crisis of lack of rep24 resentation in parts of the country where such 


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1 publicly funded programs have not been estab2 lished. 

3 (b) INDEPENDENT IMPLEMENTATION.—Except as 

4 otherwise provided in this Act, the Attorney General, act5 ing through the Director, shall exercise the authority 

6 under this Act in an independent manner in order to ad7 vance the primary objective of increasing access to rep8 resentation for individuals facing deportation, and without 

9 regard to other priorities of the Federal Government re10 lated to immigration enforcement. 

11 SEC. 6. REPORTS AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 

12 (a) REPORTS AND EVALUATIONS .—For each fiscal 

13 year, each grantee under this section during that fiscal 

14 year shall submit to the Attorney General a report on the 

15 effectiveness of activities carried out using such grant. 

16 Each report shall include an evaluation in such form and 

17 containing such information as the Attorney General may 

18 reasonably require. The Attorney General shall specify the 

19 dates on which such reports shall be submitted. 

20 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY.— Grants awarded under this 

21 Act shall be subject to the following accountability provi22 sions: 

23 (1) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.— 

24 (A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

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1 ing in the final audit report of the Inspector 

2 General of the Department of Justice under 

3 subparagraph (C) that the audited grantee has 

4 used grant funds for an unauthorized expendi5 ture or otherwise unallowable cost that is not 

6 closed or resolved within 1 year after the date 

7 on which 1 final audit report is issued. 

8 (B) AUDITS.—Beginning in the first fiscal 

9 year beginning after December 13, 2016, and 

10 in each fiscal year thereafter, the Inspector 

11 General of the Department of Justice shall con12 duct audits of grantees under this section to 

13 prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds by 

14 grantees. The Inspector General shall determine 

15 the appropriate number of grantees to be au16 dited each year. 

17 (C) FINAL AUDIT REPORT.—The Inspector 

18 General of the Department of Justice shall sub19 mit to the Attorney General a final report on 

20 each audit conducted under subparagraph (B). 

21 (D) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—A recipient 

22 of a grant under this section that is found to 

23 have an unresolved audit finding shall be eligi24 ble to receive prompt, individualized technical 

25 assistance to resolve the audit finding and to 


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1 prevent future findings, for a period not to ex2 ceed the following 2 fiscal years. 

3 (E) PRIORITY.—In making grants under 

4 this section, the Attorney General shall give pri5 ority to applicants that did not have an unre6 solved audit finding during the 3 fiscal years 

7 before submitting an application for a grant 

8 under this section. 

9 (2) NONPROFIT AGENCY REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 (A) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this 

11 paragraph and the grant program under this 

12 section, the term ‘‘nonprofit agency’’ means an 

13 organization that is described in section 

14 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

15 and is exempt from taxation under section 

16 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

17 (B) PROHIBITION.—The Attorney General 

18 may not award a grant under this section to a 

19 nonprofit agency that holds money in an off20 shore account for the purpose of avoiding pay21 ing the tax described in section 511(a) of the 

22 Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

23 (C) DISCLOSURE.— Each nonprofit agency 

24 that is awarded a grant under this section and 

25 uses the procedures prescribed in regulations to 


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1 create a rebuttable presumption of reasonable2 ness for the compensation of its officers, direc3 tors, trustees, and key employees, shall disclose 

4 to the Attorney General, in the application for 

5 the grant, the process for determining such 

6 compensation, including the independent per7 sons involved in reviewing and approving such 

8 compensation, the comparability data used, and 

9 contemporaneous substantiation of the delibera10 tion and decision. Upon request, the Attorney 

11 General shall make the information disclosed 

12 under this subparagraph available for public in13 spection. 

14 (3) CONFERENCE EXPENDITURES.— 

15 (A) LIMITATION.—Not more than 

16 $100,000 of the amounts made available to the 

17 Department of Justice to carry out this section 

18 may be used by the Attorney General, or by any 

19 individual or entity awarded a grant under this 

20 section to host, or make any expenditures relat21 ing to, a conference unless the Deputy Attorney 

22 General provides prior written authorization 

23 that the funds may be expended to host the 

24 conference or make such expenditure. 


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1 (B) WRITTEN APPROVAL.—Written ap2 proval under subparagraph (A) shall include a 

3 written estimate of all costs associated with the 

4 conference, including the cost of all food, bev5 erages, audio-visual equipment, honoraria for 

6 speakers, and entertainment. 

7 (C) REPORT.—The Deputy Attorney Gen8 eral shall submit an annual report to the Com9 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 

10 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 

11 Representatives on all conference expenditures 

12 approved under this paragraph. 

13 (4) ANNUAL CERTIFICATION.—Beginning in the 

14 first fiscal year beginning after the date of enact15 ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit 

16 to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Com17 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate and the 

18 Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on 

19 Appropriations of the House of Representatives an 

20 annual certification indicating whether all final audit 

21 reports issued by the Office of the Inspector General 

22 under paragraph (1) have been completed and re23 viewed by the appropriate Assistant Attorney Gen24 eral or Director. 


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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 

4 through 2026. 

Æ 


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