Taxpayers to Foot Bill for Illegal Alien Attorneys under G8 Plan



Under the Gang of Eight’s amnesty legislation, taxpayers could be on the hook for illegal aliens’ attorneys’ fees when they fight removal from the United States. (See S. 744 § 3502, p. 567)

Specifically, the legislation strikes a provision under current law stating that aliens’ right to counsel in removal proceedings will not be at the expense of the Government. The legislation then grants the Attorney General unfettered discretion to appoint counsel as he sees fit. In fact, the legislation grants the Attorney General the “sole and unreviewable discretion to appoint or provide counsel” to aliens in removal proceedings, denying any judicial recourse if the Attorney General abuses such power. (Id. at p. 568)(emphasis added)

And, in instances where certain alien minors are placed in removal proceedings, the legislation actually requires the Attorney General to appoint taxpayer-funded counsel.  “[T]he 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….” the bill reads. (Id. at p. 569)(emphasis added)

While the provision limits the requirement to appoint counsel to alien minors who are incompetent or “considered particularly vulnerable when compared to other aliens in removal proceedings,” no doubt all unaccompanied minors will receive free counsel given their minor status makes them inherently vulnerable when compared to the remainder of the illegal alien population. (Id.)

Moreover, the number of unaccompanied illegal alien minors crossing the border has grown since the Obama Administration instituted its DACA backdoor amnesty policy. The total number of illegal alien unaccompanied minors apprehended crossing the border in FY 2011 was 16,607, and before FY 2012 was even over, U.S. Customs and Border Protection already recorded 15,590 unaccompanied minor border crossings. (FAIR Legislative Update, Jul. 9, 2012)

About Author

avatar

The latest guest opinion pieces from FAIR.

6 Comments

  1. avatar
    Skip Conrad on

    Yes, and who will pay for the background chrcks? This bill is going thru on the backs of American people.

  2. avatar
    Mass Immigration Is Unsustainable on

    I lost count of this bill’s loopholes, waivers, exceptions, etc. and have yet to find a single pleasant surprise of the pro-enforcement variety–the bill is pure undermining of enforcement and a complete insult. The Republicans in the gang should be ashamed for their total sell-out.

  3. avatar

    The stupidness of American citizens knows no limits. Otherwise, we would have voted out THE WHOLE CONGRESS AND, SENATE, What is it, American citiznes are too utterly dense, drugged out, or feeble minded to see that the Congress and Senate are selling them out BIG TIME?? That would be selling out their JOBS, SOCIAL SERVICES, INDEED, WHOLE CULTURE, if one has witnessed the Spanish signs EVERYWHERE.
    STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES. PEACE……

  4. avatar
    Peter M. Brown on

    What does this amnesty bill say to the law abiding people and their children waiting to get here legally? It tells them that are fools for respecting our current immigration laws. Also, the Gang of 8 keep saying that the illegals will not get in line ahead of the people waiting to come here legally, but in fact they are ahead of them because they will be allowed to stay in the United States while they wait. How fair is that?

  5. avatar

    Again, this whole bill is a blank check, a no limit credit card for this administration to pull out whenever it wishes. This bill essentially says the law is what we say it is, and we will decide all issues at our discretion.