(20 ILCS 4112/15)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2025)

Sec. 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;

(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;

(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 recommendations for how to fully provide legal representation for covered individuals facing covered proceedings no later than July 1, 2024.

(Source: P.A. 102-827, eff. 5-13-22; 103-109, eff. 6-27-23.)