I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3775 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 16, 2019 

Mr. BROWN of Maryland (for himself, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SOTO, and Mr. 

VARGAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To increase legal representation for certain aliens, and for 

other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Justice for Im5 migrants Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VULNERABLE POPULATION DEFINED. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘vulnerable population’’ means, 

8 with respect to an alien, that the alien— 

9 (1) is an asylum seeker or victim of torture or 

10 trafficking; 


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1 (2) has special religious, cultural, or spiritual 

2 considerations; 

3 (3) is pregnant or nursing; 

4 (4) is younger than 21 years of age or older 

5 than 60 years of age; 

6 (5) identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans7 gender, or intersex; 

8 (6) is a victim or witness of a crime; 

9 (7) has a mental disorder or physical disability; 

10 (8) is incapable of filling out forms in English; 

11 or 

12 (9) has been determined by an immigration 

13 judge or the Secretary of Homeland Security to be 

14 experiencing severe trauma or to be a survivor of 

15 torture or gender-based violence, based on informa16 tion obtained during intake, from the individual’s at17 torney or legal services provider, or through credible 

18 self-reporting. 

19 TITLE I—AMENDMENTS TO THE 

20 IMMIGRATION AND NATION21 ALITY ACT 

22 SEC. 101. MIGRANT PROTECTION PROTOCOLS. 

23 (a) TREATMENT OF ALIENS ARRIVING FROM CON24 TIGUOUS TERRITORY.—Section 235(b)(2)(C) of the Immi25 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(2)(C)) is 


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1 amended by inserting before the period at the end the fol2 lowing: ‘‘with the affirmative consent of the alien’’. 

3 (b) INTERVIEW APPLICANTS.—In the case of an alien 

4 who is a member of a vulnerable population and applying 

5 for admission as a refugee under section 207 of the Immi6 gration and Nationality Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

7 Security shall ensure that the number of interviews re8 quired of such an alien is not overly burdensome. 

9 (c) ASYLUM OFFICER DEFINED.—Section 

10 235(b)(1)(E) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

11 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(E)) is amended— 

12 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

13 (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the 

14 end and inserting the following: ‘‘, and’’; and 

15 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(iii) is an employee of U.S. Citizen17 ship and Immigration Services.’’. 

18 TITLE II—IMMIGRATION 

19 PROCEEDINGS 

20 SEC. 201. IMMIGRATION JUDGE REQUIREMENTS. 

21 The Attorney General may not require an immigra22 tion judge to adhere to a case production quota or any 

23 other time-based metric and may not evaluate the per24 formance of an immigration judge using any such quota 

25 or time based metric. 


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1 SEC. 202. REPRESENTATION. 

2 (a) RIGHT TO COUNSEL.—The Immigration and Na3 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) in section 238(b)(4)(B), by striking ‘‘(at no 

5 expense to the government)’’; 

6 (2) in section 240(b)(4)(A), by striking ‘‘, at no 

7 expense to the Government,’’; and 

8 (3) by amending section 292 to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘RIGHT TO COUNSEL

10 ‘‘SEC. 292. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In any proceeding before an im12 migration judge and in any appeal proceeding before the 

13 Attorney General from any such proceedings, the person 

14 concerned, including an unaccompanied alien child or an 

15 alien who is an individual with a disability (as such term 

16 is defined in Section 7(20) of the Rehabilitation Act of 

17 1973 (29 U.S.C. 705)), shall have the privilege of being 

18 represented by such counsel, authorized to practice in such 

19 proceedings, as the person shall choose. 

20 ‘‘(b) INDIGENT ALIENS.—In the case of an indigent 

21 alien, an immigration judge shall appoint, at the alien’s 

22 request, counsel to represent the alien in any proceeding 

23 described in subsection (a).’’. 

24 (b) ACCESS TO COUNSEL FOR UNACCOMPANIED

25 ALIEN CHILDREN.—Section 235(c)(5) of the William Wil26 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 


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1 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232(c)(5)) is amended by striking 

2 ‘‘to the greatest extent practicable and consistent with sec3 tion 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

4 1362)’’. 

5 (c) COURT DATE.—Section 240(a) of the Immigra6 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(a)) is amended 

7 by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(4) DEPORTATION.—An alien that is eligible 

9 for a removal proceeding under this Act may not be 

10 removed prior to the date of such proceeding.’’. 

11 TITLE III—JUDICIAL REVIEW 

12 SEC. 301. EXTENSION ON PETITION FOR REVIEW. 

13 Section 242(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 

14 Act (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)) is amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘30 days’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘60 days’’; and 

18 (B) by inserting before the period at the 

19 end the following: ‘‘, except that a court may 

20 extend the deadline for a period of not more 

21 than 30 days upon a showing of good cause or 

22 excusable neglect’’; and 

23 (2) in paragraph (3)(B)— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘does not’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘shall’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘, unless the court orders 

2 otherwise’’. 

3 SEC. 302. NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAL. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

5 Board of Immigration Appeals affirms an order of removal 

6 issued pursuant to section 240, the Attorney General shall 

7 provide written notice of the right to appeal to the alien 

8 (or, if personal service is not practicable, through service 

9 by mail to the alien or to the alien’s counsel of record, 

10 if any) specifying the deadline for seeking judicial review 

11 under section 242 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

12 (8 U.S.C. 1252) and the appropriate court of appeals. 

13 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Attorney General shall 

14 amend such regulations as may be necessary to implement 

15 subsection (a). 

16 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef17 fect on the date that is 120 days after the date of enact18 ment of this Act. 

19 TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS 

20 SEC. 401. VIDEO CONFERENCE TECHNOLOGY. 

21 Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment 

22 of this Act, the Attorney General, acting through the Di23 rector of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, 

24 shall submit to Congress a report on the effect of video 

25 conference hearings on the outcome of such hearings. 


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1 SEC. 402. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act $726,200,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 

4 through 2021. 

Æ 


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