Bill Text: IL HB0025 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Engrossed

---

Bill Title: Creates the Right to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings Act. Establishes the Task Force on Counsel in Immigration Proceedings. Provides for members, compensation, and support staff. Provides that the Task Force shall investigate the implementation of universal representation for covered individuals in immigration removal proceedings. Provides that the Task Force shall submit a report of its findings in the investigation and its recommendations for how to fully provide legal representation for covered individuals facing immigration proceedings no later than July 1, 2022. Repeals the Act July 1, 2023. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 29-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-10-14 - Pursuant to Senate Rule 3-9(b) / Referred to Assignments [HB0025 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB0025-Engrossed.html

---

HB0025 Engrossed LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
AN ACT concerning civil law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Right
to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings Act.
Section 5. Purpose; findings.
(a) The State is committed to fair and equal treatment of
all individuals, and, in particular, of individuals at risk of
removal and separation from their families through the federal
immigration detention and deportation system.
(b) While an individual in removal proceedings has the
right to legal representation, the representation is at the
individual's own expense and may be beyond the financial
capacity of low-income households.
(c) Nearly two-thirds of all individuals facing
immigration removal proceedings throughout the United States
lack legal representation. Among the individuals in
immigration detention, only one in 6 individuals were
represented by counsel. Among the individuals facing removal
proceedings in this State, less than one in 3 individuals,
generally, and less than one in 8 individuals in detention
were represented by counsel.
(d) Legal representation is essential to effective

HB0025 Engrossed - 2 - LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
identification and presentation of avenues for release from
detention and relief from removal. Individuals in immigration
detention are 4 times more likely to win release if
represented by legal counsel than individuals without
representation by legal counsel. In removal proceedings,
detained individuals are 11 times more likely to succeed in
claims for relief if represented by legal counsel than
individuals without representation by legal counsel.
(e) Legal representation in removal proceedings has
improved the efficiency of the proceedings and the
administration of justice as individuals are better able to
present their defenses and claims for relief.
(f) It is the public policy of this State that all covered
individuals should have the right to ongoing legal
representation in covered proceedings. This right to counsel
should include provisions of funds sufficient to ensure that
legal service providers are funded to:
(1) engage support staff, interpretation staff, and
investigative staff;
(2) contract as reasonably necessary with independent
experts, including country conditions experts and forensic
medical experts; and
(3) contract as reasonably necessary with social
service providers providing supportive and rehabilitative
services to covered individuals during the course of their
removal proceedings.

HB0025 Engrossed - 3 - LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
(g) This State should establish a program and a dedicated
fund to provide the legal services described in subsection
(f).
Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Covered individual" means any individual subject to
removal proceedings under 8 U.S.C. 1225, 1228, and 1229a or a
final order of removal under 8 CFR 1241.1, including any
related covered proceeding, regardless of age, who is: (i) a
domiciliary of this State; or (ii) an individual who is not a
domiciliary of this State if removal proceedings are conducted
against the individual in this State.
"Covered proceeding" means any proceeding in which a
covered individual is a party and is seeking an avenue of
relief from removal from the United States or is challenging
his or her arrest or detention under the Immigration and
Nationality Act and its implementing regulations. "Covered
proceeding" includes:
(1) a proceeding or hearing in an immigration court
and any related application to United States Citizenship
and Immigration Services connected to the proceeding or
hearing;
(2) an immigration proceeding conducted by telephone
or video teleconference;
(3) a proceeding in a State court for purposes of
obtaining a special findings order;

HB0025 Engrossed - 4 - LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
(4) a proceeding in a State court for purposes of
vacating a conviction or modifying a sentence in which the
conviction or sentence is relevant to the immigration
proceedings at issue;
(5) a credible fear interview or reasonable fear
interview;
(6) a habeas corpus petition to a federal district
court challenging detention under the Immigration and
Nationality Act;
(7) a motion to reopen or reconsider under 8 U.S.C.
1229a;
(8) a petition for review under 8 U.S.C. 1252;
(9) a remand to a federal district court from the
United States Court of Appeals for fact-finding purposes;
and
(10) any appeal related to any of the foregoing to the
Board of Immigration Appeals, the United States Court of
Appeals, or the United States Supreme Court.
"Domicile" means a true, fixed, and permanent legal home
of an individual or the place to which the individual intends
to return even though the individual may reside elsewhere.
"Domiciliary" means an individual who has established a
domicile with respect to a particular jurisdiction.
"Immigration court" means a tribunal of the Executive
Office for Immigration Review, or a successor entity, tasked
with deciding the inadmissibility or deportability of a

HB0025 Engrossed - 5 - LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
noncitizen of the United States that is presided over by an
immigration judge as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1101(b)(4).
"Legal services" means individual legal assistance in a
single consultation, or ongoing legal representation, provided
by a legal services provider to a covered individual, and all
legal advice, advocacy, and assistance associated with the
service.
"Legal services provider" means an individual,
organization, or association that has the authority to provide
legal services.
Section 15. Task Force on Counsel in Immigration
Proceedings.
(a) The Task Force on Counsel in Immigration Proceedings
is established.
(b) The Task Force shall consist of the following 7
members:
(1) the Governor, or his or her designee;
(2) the President of the Senate, or his or her
designee;
(3) the Minority Leader of the Senate, or his or her
designee;
(4) the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or
his or her designee;
(5) the Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives, or his or her designee;

HB0025 Engrossed - 6 - LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
(6) the Attorney General, or his or her designee; and
(7) the Secretary of Human Services, or his or her
designee.
(c) Members of the Task Force shall serve without
compensation.
(d) The Department of Human Services shall provide
administrative and other support to the Task Force.
(e) The Task Force shall investigate the implementation of
universal representation for covered individuals in
immigration removal proceedings as described in subsection (f)
of Section 5. The Task Force investigation shall include, but
is not limited to, the following matters:
(1) the estimated number of covered individuals facing
a covered proceeding;
(2) the current infrastructure for providing
independent, competent, and zealous legal representation
in a covered proceeding;
(3) the additional resources, including salaries and
benefits for attorneys and support staff, training,
supervision, and material resources that would need to be
added to the existing infrastructure described in
paragraph (2) in order to provide independent, competent,
and zealous legal representation for the number of covered
individuals described in paragraph (1), including
mechanisms for subcontracted relationships with
independent experts and social service providers;

HB0025 Engrossed - 7 - LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
(4) the estimated annual cost of the additional
resources described in paragraph (3);
(5) funding sources, public and private, that are or
would be available to pay for the additional resources
described in paragraph (3); and
(6) the estimated annual cost of bond payment support
needed for covered individuals facing a covered
proceeding, and the feasibility of a State-sponsored bond
fund for those individuals.
(f) In order for the Governor and General Assembly to
evaluate different scopes of legal representation in
immigration court proceedings, the Task Force investigation
described in subsection (e) shall provide additional findings
in the following categories:
(1) State domiciliary versus non-State domiciliary
covered individuals, and, among the State domiciliary
covered individuals, the regions of residence within the
State;
(2) household income above and below 250% of the
federal poverty line;
(3) type of proceedings in which the covered
individuals need legal representation; and
(4) current percentages of covered individuals in
covered proceedings with and without legal representation.
(g) The Task Force shall submit a report of its findings in
the investigation described in subsection (e) and its

HB0025 Engrossed - 8 - LRB102 02740 LNS 12743 b
recommendations for how to fully provide legal representation
for covered individuals facing covered proceedings no later
than July 1, 2022.
Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on July 1, 2023.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.