S.744 Immigration bill - Sec. 3502: IMPROVING IMMIGRATION COURT EFFICIENCY AND REDUCING COSTS BY INCREASING ACCESS TO LEGAL INFORMATION
Posted Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 4:57 pm
- (a) Clarification Regarding the Authority of the Attorney
General to Appoint Counsel to Aliens in Immigration Proceedings- Section
292 (8 U.S.C. 1362) is amended--
- (1) by inserting `(a)' before `In any';
- (2) by striking `(at no expense to the Government)';
- (3) by striking `he shall' and inserting `the person shall'; and
- (4) by adding at the end the following:
- `(b) The Government is not required to provide counsel to
aliens under subsection (a). However, the Attorney General may, in the
Attorney General's sole and unreviewable discretion, appoint or provide
counsel to aliens in immigration proceedings conducted under section 240
of this Act.'.
- (b) Appointment of Counsel in Certain Cases- Section 240(b)(4) (8 U.S.C. 1229a(b)(4)) is amended--
- (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking `, at no expense to the Government,'; and
- (2) by adding at the end the following: `The Government
is not required to provide counsel to aliens under this paragraph.
However, the Attorney General may, in the Attorney General's sole and
unreviewable discretion, appoint or provide counsel at government
expense to aliens in immigration proceedings.'.
- (c) Appointment of Counsel for Unaccompanied Alien Children
and Aliens With a Serious Mental Disability- Section 292 (8 U.S.C.
1362), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the
end the following:
- `(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), the Attorney General
shall appoint counsel, at the expense of the Government, if necessary,
to represent an alien in a removal proceeding who has been determined by
the Secretary to be an unaccompanied alien child, is incompetent to
represent himself or herself due to a serious mental disability that
would be included in section 3(2) of the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102(2)), or is considered particularly vulnerable
when compared to other aliens in removal proceedings, such that the
appointment of counsel is necessary to help ensure fair resolution and
efficient adjudication of the proceedings.'.
- (d) Funding- There shall be appropriated, from the
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Trust Fund established under section
6(a)(1), such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section and the
amendments made by this section.
3502
IMPROVING IMMIGRATION COURT EFFICIENCY AND REDUCING COSTS BY INCREASING ACCESS TO LEGAL INFORMATION