Government must pay for lawyers for migrant children in court
H.R. 10943 — Counsel for Kids Act of 2026 · Filed by Hillary Scholten (D-MI) · Introduced Oct 29, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill says the federal government must pay for lawyers. The lawyers help migrant children in court. Independent groups, not the government, would provide the lawyers. The bill removes old language that said the government did not have to pay. Now the government must pay.
Who it affects
Migrant children without parents in federal care would get free lawyers. Legal aid groups and immigration lawyers would provide the lawyers.
One thing to notice
The bill applies to all migrant children in federal care. This includes children in fast-track court cases.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Oct 29, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 29, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- migrant children — Children who came to the U.S. without a parent or guardian.
- independent groups — Organizations not part of the government that provide services.
- federal care — When the federal government takes care of children.
- fast-track court cases — Court cases that move quickly to remove people from the U.S.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,100 characters) on Nov 4, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,938 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-11-04.
“Government must pay for lawyers for migrant children in court” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10943/simple Report an error
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