Bill makes tricking migrants a crime and funds legal help.
H.R. 9803 — Protecting Immigrants From Legal Exploitation Act of 2026 · Filed by Bill Foster (D-IL) · 18 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill makes it a federal crime to trick migrants. It also makes it a crime to pretend to be a migration lawyer. The government must make rules about who can help with migration paperwork. The Attorney General can sue firms that commit fraud. Migrants tricked by unlicensed helpers can fix their forms without penalty. The bill gives money to groups that teach migrants about fraud and provide free legal help.
Who it affects
Migrants who might be tricked by fake lawyers or unlicensed helpers are protected. Legal aid groups get funding to help migrants.
One thing to notice
The bill depends on money from Congress to work. Without that money, the legal help and outreach programs may not happen.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
18 cosponsors: 18 Democrats.
- Jul 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 21, 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
- federal crime — A serious illegal act that the U.S. government can punish.
- unlicensed — Not approved or permitted by the government to do a job.
- outreach — Work to teach and inform people about a topic or service.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (8,442 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 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 2026-09-23.
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