DREAMers, Immigrants, and Refugees (DIRe) Legal Aid Act

DREAMers, Immigrants, and Refugees (DIRe) Legal Aid Act

This bill directs the Department of Justice to make grants to nonprofit legal services providers to provide immigration law-related services to certain aliens facing removal or at risk of being denied entry into the United States.

The services shall be available to an alien who (1) is lawfully admitted for permanent residence, (2) has received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, or (3) qualifies for admission as a refugee or whose spouse or parent so qualifies.

The Department of Homeland Security shall report to Congress about the immigration outcomes of aliens who have legal representation compared to those who do not.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 656 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 656

      To require the Attorney General to make grants to nonprofit 
  organizations to offer legal assistance to certain aliens lawfully 
 admitted for permanent residence, DACA recipients, and refugees, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2019

Mr. Correa (for himself, Ms. Bonamici, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Norton, 
Mr. Cohen, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Clarke of New 
York, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Brownley of California, Ms. DeGette, 
Mr. Sires, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Ms. Wilson of Florida, 
   Mr. Veasey, Mr. Sablan, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Speier, Mrs. 
  Dingell, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Wild, Ms. Omar, Mr. Engel, Ms. 
  Eshoo, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. 
 Waters, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Welch, Mr. Rush, Mr. Schneider, Mr. 
Lujan, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Takano, Mr. Panetta, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Gonzalez 
 of Texas, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Vela, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Carbajal, Mrs. 
   Napolitano, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Brown of 
Maryland, Mr. Soto, and Mr. Gomez) introduced the following bill; which 
             was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To require the Attorney General to make grants to nonprofit 
  organizations to offer legal assistance to certain aliens lawfully 
 admitted for permanent residence, DACA recipients, and refugees, and 
                          for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``DREAMers, Immigrants, and Refugees 
(DIRe) Legal Aid Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall, subject to the 
availability of appropriations, make grants to nonprofit legal services 
providers with immigration law expertise to provide legal services and 
advice with respect to the immigration laws (and any executive branch 
orders, regulations, rules, memoranda, or other guidance under such 
laws) to aliens who--
            (1) are present in the United States;
            (2) are described in subsection (b); and
            (3) have been ordered removed, are in removal proceedings, 
        or are at risk of being denied entry or admission into the 
        United States.
    (b) Aliens Described.--An alien is described in this subsection 
if--
            (1) the alien is lawfully admitted to the United States for 
        permanent residence;
            (2) the alien received a grant of deferred action under the 
        Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program established 
        pursuant to the memorandum of the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security dated June 15, 2012; or
            (3) the alien, or the alien's spouse or parent, has been 
        admitted, or has been determined to be qualified for admission, 
        as a refugee.
    (c) Dissemination of Contact Information.--The Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall provide aliens described in subsection (a) with 
the contact information for providers receiving funds under this 
section and shall afford aliens in detention an opportunity to speak in 
person or by telephone to, and arrange representation by, such a 
provider.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated $5,000,000 to carry out this section.

SEC. 3. STUDY ON DISPARITIES IN OUTCOMES FOR ALIENS IN REMOVAL 
              PROCEEDINGS BASED ON HAVING LEGAL REPRESENTATION.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Under 
Secretary for Science and Technology, shall carry out a study on the 
relative outcomes for individuals in removal proceedings who have legal 
representation as compared to individuals who lack legal representation 
and shall submit to the Congress recommendations for correcting any 
disparities in outcomes found through such study.
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