HOUSE BILL NO. 3159 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS.
6744H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To amend chapter 660, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to legal services for undocumented minors.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 660, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be 2 known as section 660.760, to read as follows: 660.760. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Children's Due 2 Process Protection Act". 3 2. Subject to appropriation, the department of social services shall provide legal 4 counsel to every immigrant child under the age of eighteen residing in the state of 5 Missouri. 6 3. Children shall be appointed counsel as follows: 7 (1) Access to counsel shall begin at the time an immigrant child is designated as 8 unaccompanied by a federal or state agency or identified as such by an immigration 9 attorney; 10 (2) Access to counsel may apply in state court proceedings or to submitting an 11 affirmative filing for purposes of obtaining any order necessary for or relevant to 12 immigration remedies, federal immigration proceedings, any related appearances or 13 matters, and any appeals arising from those proceedings before the United States 14 Department of Homeland Security, the United States Department of Justice, or in 15 federal court; 16 (3) Access to counsel shall not be provided if the immigrant child has 17 independent counsel; and
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HB 3159 2
18 (4) Access to counsel shall apply to any child designated as an immigrant child at 19 any time throughout the pendency of any of the proceedings in subdivisions (1) and (2) 20 of this subsection. If the immigrant child reaches eighteen years of age, he or she shall 21 remain eligible for access to counsel during the pendency of the proceedings initiated 22 before the immigrant child reached eighteen years of age. 23 4. Contracts under this section shall follow the procedures for state contracting 24 in chapter 34. The department shall contract to provide the legal counsel required 25 under this subsection with the following entities: 26 (1) Nonprofit legal services organizations that have at least three years handling 27 asylum, T-Visa, U-Visa, or special immigrant status cases and have represented at least 28 twenty-five individuals in these matters; and 29 (2) The office of the public defender, if the office has an immigration attorney 30 with at least three years of experience handling asylum, T-Visa, U-Visa, or special 31 immigrant juvenile status cases and has represented at least twenty minors in these 32 matters. 33 5. For the purposes of this section, an "immigrant child" is defined as either: 34 (1) An undocumented minor as described in 6 U.S.C. Section 279; or 35 (2) A person under eighteen years of age, with no lawful immigration status, and 36 who arrived in the United States without a parent or legal guardian or who has no 37 parent or legal guardian available and able to assist in the child's immigration 38 proceedings. ✔
Statutes affected: