Blumenthal & Colleagues Reintroduce Legislation to Guarantee Legal Representation for Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Proceedings

[Hartford, CT] – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) joined 26 of his colleagues in introducing The Fair Day in Court for Kids Act of 2025, legislation to ensure unaccompanied children have access to legal representation when they appear in proceedings before an immigration judge. This proposed legislation comes after the Trump Administration’s recent termination of a contract that provided legal services for approximately 26,000 unaccompanied children appearing in immigration court.

“The Trump Administration’s breathtakingly cruel decision to strip tens of thousands of tiny children of access to a lawyer shows exactly why this legislation is so important,” said Blumenthal. “The right to legal counsel is a central tenet of our justice system. Yet unaccompanied immigrant children as young as 3 and 4 years old are expected to navigate the cold complexities of our legal system with no one to help them through the process. The consequences of sending these children back to the countries they are fleeing can be literally life-and-death and presents grave human-trafficking risks. We have a moral obligation to ensure that that decision is made with due process, including access to an attorney.”

Nearly half of all unaccompanied children represent themselves during immigration legal proceedings and it is extremely difficult for children to successfully navigate the U.S. immigration system without an attorney—unrepresented children appear alone in immigration court to face a judge and an adversarial government attorney seeking their removal from the United States. Many of these children, potentially as young as 3-years old, are unable to speak English and unable to understand our complicated legal system. Immigration judges are nearly 100 times less likely to grant relief to unaccompanied children without counsel compared to those with counsel. The federal government previously provided legal representation to some unaccompanied minors in accordance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which created special protections for children who arrive in the U.S. without a parent or a legal guardian. Now, the Trump Administration is working to terminate those services completely.

Specifically, the The Fair Day in Court for Kids Act:

• Requires that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provide counsel to noncitizen unaccompanied children appearing before the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or a state court, unless the child has obtained counsel at their own expense;
• Extends the government’s duty to ensure counsel for unaccompanied children to the end of their immigration proceedings, even if the child turns 18 during proceedings;
• Ensures that children are informed of their right to representation within 72 hours and creates infrastructure to identify, recruit, and train pro bono lawyers to provide representation;
• Allows unaccompanied children to reopen their case if HHS fails to provide counsel;
• Requires the government and stakeholders to create guidelines and duties for counsel representing unaccompanied children, largely based on American Bar Association recommendations;
• Clarifies that the government may, at its choosing, also provide counsel to other individuals in immigration court;
• Requires noncitizens, and their attorneys, to receive a complete copy of the noncitizen’s immigration file at least 10 days before removal proceedings;
• Guarantees access to counsel for all noncitizens detained in DHS facilities; and
• Requires a report on children’s access to counsel.

Last month, after the Trump Administration issued the first stop work order in February, Blumenthal joined 31 of his colleagues in sending a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, demanding that the Trump Administration continue legal services for unaccompanied children caught up in the immigration system as required by law.

Yesterday, Blumenthal and U.S. Representative Jim Himes (CT-04) joined the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI) to talk about federal funding cuts and the impact these actions are having on immigrants and refugees in the state. A photo of the visit is available here.

The bill is led by U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and cosponsored by U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

The Fair Day in Court for Kids Act is endorsed by Kids in Need of Defense (KIND); Acacia Center for Justice; Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights; and National Center for Youth Law.

The full text of the legislation is available here.

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