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by Dave Soulia, for FYIVT.com
A newly introduced House bill, H.742, would establish a state-recognized right to ongoing, taxpayer-funded legal representation for individuals in federal immigration proceedings, including non-residents detained in Vermont, with attorneys, court costs, and related services paid at public expense.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Leonora Dodge (D – Chittenden-23), proposes creating a new Legal Representation in Federal Immigration Proceedings Program within Vermont’s Office of Defender General. As written, the legislation declares it to be the public policy of the State of Vermont that covered individuals “should have the right to ongoing legal representation” in federal immigration cases.
What the Bill Declares a “Right”
H.742 goes beyond authorizing a pilot program or discretionary assistance. It explicitly frames immigration defense as a right, stating:
“It is the public policy of this State that all covered individuals subject to federal immigration proceedings should have the right to ongoing legal representation.”
The bill further provides that representation must be equivalent to that of privately retained counsel, include appeals, and begin no later than intake at a detention facility. Attorneys, services, facilities, and court costs are to be provided “at public expense” for covered individuals who cannot pay without undue hardship.
The bill also contemplates funding for more than just attorneys. Legislative intent language specifies that funding should be sufficient to cover support staff, interpreters, investigators, independent experts — including forensic medical experts — and contracts with social service providers during removal proceedings.
Non-Residents Explicitly Included
One of the bill’s most consequential provisions is its definition of who qualifies.
Under H.742, a “covered individual” includes a person subject to federal removal proceedings who is either a Vermont domiciliary or, if not a domiciliary, “is in detention or incarcerated in this State for purposes of immigration enforcement or is subject to a removal proceeding.”
In practical terms, Vermont residency is not required. Any non-resident detained in Vermont for federal immigration enforcement would qualify for state-funded legal representation under the bill, regardless of whether that individual has any prior connection to Vermont or pays Vermont taxes.
Eligibility is tied to where the federal government chooses to detain someone, not to domicile or state residency. If immigration authorities hold an individual in Vermont, the bill would obligate Vermont to provide and fund their legal defense.
Program Structure and Funding
H.742 places the new program within the Office of Defender General and creates:
- One full-time Director position
- Two full-time staff attorney positions
- Authority to contract with the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project to provide representation
The bill also establishes an advisory council with members appointed by advocacy organizations, the Defender General, and the Commissioner of Corrections.
To launch the program, the bill proposes a $1,000,000 appropriation from the General Fund in fiscal year 2027. The legislation does not include a spending cap tied to the right itself, nor does it limit the duration of representation beyond the completion of proceedings and appeals.
How This Compares to Legal Representation for Vermonters
The creation of a statutory right to state-funded counsel in federal immigration proceedings stands in contrast to the legal assistance available to most Vermonters.
In criminal cases, indigent defendants facing incarceration generally receive public defenders due to constitutional requirements. Even then, public defense resources are widely acknowledged to be strained.
In civil cases — including eviction, custody disputes, divorce, debt collection, and many benefits cases — Vermonters generally have no guaranteed right to free legal representation. Outside narrow circumstances where incarceration is possible (such as some civil contempt cases) and a limited number of targeted pilot programs, civil legal help usually depends on capacity-limited legal aid, pro bono counsel, or self-representation.
While the Vermont Constitution contains language stating that justice should be obtained “freely, and without being obliged to purchase it,” Vermont courts have not interpreted that provision as a blanket entitlement to state-paid attorneys in civil matters. Outside narrow circumstances, civil legal representation remains a matter of private means or limited nonprofit assistance.
Federal immigration proceedings are classified as civil, not criminal, under federal law. H.742 would nonetheless establish a state-recognized right to publicly funded legal counsel in civil immigration proceedings for non-residents detained in Vermont, creating a level of statutory entitlement not broadly available to Vermont residents in their own civil cases.
Budget Context and Policy Tradeoffs
The bill arrives amid broader fiscal pressures facing the state, including ongoing debates over education funding, healthcare costs, and tax burdens. Immigration defense cases can be complex and resource-intensive, often involving prolonged detention, multiple hearings, expert testimony, and appeals.
While the bill proposes an initial $1 million appropriation, it does not limit the scope of the right to available funding, raising questions about long-term obligations if costs exceed initial projections.
What Happens Next
H.742 is introduced legislation and may be amended as it moves through the legislative process. Committee assignment, hearings, and fiscal analysis will determine whether and how it advances.
As written, however, the bill is explicit: Vermont would create a state-recognized right to ongoing, taxpayer-funded legal representation for individuals in federal immigration proceedings, including non-residents detained in the state, with costs borne by Vermont taxpayers.
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Categories: Legislation, News Analysis
This is a hard no! Not only can we NOT afford it, but immigrants should not be here unless sponsored by an American to ensure they are fully employed and not a burden on our social services or jails. Finally, it would be a magnet for more illegals…again, which we cannot afford!
It’s been a while since the moonbats have created a new “human right” so I guess we were due for one. And what’s better than just a new human right than one that is also an affront to the MAGA agenda? We always have all this excess public money hanging around anyhow so how about something to spend it on that makes white guilt a little easier to bear for diversity-challenged Vermonters. Folks who habitually vote for democrats and progressives should be beaming with pride at the initiative shown by our benevolent legislature for having the added foresight to include no spending cap or duration limits. We’ll show orange hitler who’s boss.
Oh goodie ! Another program that will raise our taxes ! The disingenuous peabrains in Mount Peculair just don’t get it . They are placing the goose that lays their golden eggs neck on the chopping block, and they don’t seem to care, or that is their deliberate intent ! No new programs as long as we are scratching to fund what we allready have !
I’m a hard no on this. Considering how expensive legal costs can be with appeals and such, this is a bad idea. If someone can’t come here legally, they shouldn’t get the time of day.
Just.
Say.
No.
Enough is enough.
Ya gotta be kidding! This is a HARD NO!
We’re struggling to pay the taxes levied for the failing Education System and ever increasing property taxes. This is obviously a pet project grown out of Dodge’s special interests. It does not serve the interests or needs of the legal residents of Vermont. In fact it is designed to siphon off the assets of legal residents. So NO, Leonora, if you want to donate to an illegals defense go right ahead, but don’t try coercion through legislation.
More liberal garbage from the idiots in Montpelier
Nope. Not a chance. You want legal representation? Pay for it. Better yet, pay for it in your own country.
NO! NO! NO!
Where’s mine?
This piece of legislation is authored by an immigrant, Leonora Dodge, who also authored the legislation that made “immigrant” a protected status in Vermont (not legal immigrant, just immigrant) and mandates that renters need not have a social security number, just some other form of non-government issued ID. S 127 is a masterpiece at elevating immigrant rights beyond the rights of citizens as is the new immigrant legislation. Honestly, immigrants have more rights than citizens in the state of Vermont!
Paid for by whom and for whom? Why should the legal, productive taxpayers of Vermont be saddled with another one of the Progressives’ virtue-signaling attacks on their wallets? At what point will the people sent to Montpelier start representing the interests of LAWFULLY present Vermonters? Has anyone thought or discussed the fact that if these people hadn’t been permitted to UNLAWFULLY enter and remain in this country by the political cohorts of the Progressives, the current operations by federal agencies wouldn’t be needed! I do recall the mantra of “no one is above the law” by the very same cabal pushing this type of legislation!
Are you suggesting that I should cover the costs for immigration legal proceedings for undocumented individuals? If that’s the case, why don’t they have their own legal representation? I personally paid more than $20,000 in immigration fees, and it was a significant financial burden to follow the legal process correctly. This situation is frustrating and feels unjust. When will Vermont stop going against the policies of the Trump administration, Vermont citizens will suffer in the end..
The democrats in Vermont want to ignore the 119,395 Vermonters who cast votes for President Trump in 2024 and pretend we dont exist.
All while our school taxes keep going up, and the governor pounding us how we have to fix the school problem by spending more money.
The TRUTH ? … this is how the MIC destroys AMERICA; the immigration of millions into the USA from Islamic countries that they are forcing American tax dollars to FUND.
BTW; many are not aware; there are also dozens of NGO’s. e.g., HIAS.org & IsraAID.org to name a few, that facilitate their immigrants transportation into USA ‘Sanctuary Cities’ and Blue States, and then assist them into getting on our Welfare system (e.g., housing, food stamps, and a *stipend: the USAID Visa Credit Card DOGE claims they cut).
The United States is the 8th country (unmentioned) of the 7 countries General Wesley Clark was informed by staff at the Pentagon ~ that the MIC planned on taking down. The USA is deliberately being destabilized via a well know War Strategy called “INVASION”.
The same MIC operatives that create these never ending WARS in the Middle East (countries that were zero threat to US Citizens) ~ is what CREATED this massive influx of immigrants into the USA that can not possibly assimilate (i.e., if they insist on following “Sharia Law” taking over Minnesota & Minneapolis).
The MIC ‘operatives’ (Christian War Mongering Zionists (e.g., George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama & Joe Biden), along with Jewish Zionists, Paul Wolfowitz) that made them all “kiss the wall” and bribed our Congress to vote “YES” for these WARS; i.e., ‘IF’ they even got ‘Congressional approval’ (not even required these days, violating our Constitution). My observations are not antisemitic; they are anti-WAR (controlled by billionaires); and ANTI forcing our Veterans to die without a cause other than to DESTROY AMERICA. Enough.
FACT: Immigration is being used as a tool of the MIC. The USA has been invaded, Trump (working with the Zionists) is not exporting illegals as promised & America is deliberately being drained of all its resources, taxpayers money is being stolen to bankrupt America, and the USA is being destabilized to aid in turning our country into a Military State ~ so they can take our guns and enforce Marshall Law.
All of this is being done intentionally … It is clear as day what is happening here.
I encourage everyone to follow & support ex-Green Beret Michael Yon, now War Correspondent on Substack: https://michaelyon.substack.com/
if you want to follow what the Billionaire Zionists are up to *Christian and Jewish alike. Their Islamic friends from Qatar are funding the Muslim Brotherhood in the USA (which we need to make a Terrorist Organization if we want to stop the USA from being taken over).
Qatar has funded the building of the Islamic-only “Epic City” in Plano, Texas, and created their own Legal System & Courts so maintain Sharia Law in the USA.
The immigrants intend to maintain Sharia Law in America; which violates the Human Rights of Women & Children on US soil in America). Having their own Sharia Law
Courts & Judges will allow Muslim men not to be punished for beating their wives (if disobedient), nor committing “honor killings” in the USA, if their women, mothers and daughters, are murdered for not wearing the hijab.
We need to stop this now. Italy just banned the hijab being worn in public places to help maintain the dignity of their Western Culture. The MIC dos not want this happening in the USA because they intend on assisting Sharia Law’s takeover in America.
American s who value Western Culture will soon be outnumbered; the C19 kill shots made most Americans sterile (citizens from Muslim countries were not coerced/mandated to C19-inject), and Sharia Law males can have up to 4 wives. #BanShariaLaw #BanMuslimBrotherhood
The MSM has brainwashed the Left Liberals to actually “cooperate” (aid & abet) the WEF Oligarchs in the destruction of their own country (America) …
What is happening right now in the USA, with the Anti-ICE help of Marxist Liberals, is what Evolutionary Psychologist & author Gad Saad has dubbed … “Suicidal Empathy” (he has written a book about it).
Both terms “BLM” & “Islamophobia” (BLM used immediately following the unfortunate and tragic death of George Floyd (sadly a typical Police Brutality event that plagues America on an almost daily basis) … was USED to Gaslight America into to “BLM Agenda” for Global Control.
God Knows that America is a work in progress.
With the election of Barack Obama for 2 terms … we all KNEW, and could see BLM was becoming less relevant. Even Blacks wanted to be seen on the same level playing field as Whites (as evidence by the millions of Blacks that voted for Trump; they were not going along with the Liberals’ left of victimizing them into permanent victimhood. As Malcolm “X” said:
“If you are not careful the newspapers will have you hating the people being oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing”
The WEF Billionaire Club seeking to create a New World Order to Divide and Conquer have weaponized BOTH terms ~ “BLM” & “Islamophobia”.
Both are being used as PsyOps ~ created by the MIC (CIA & Mossad) to destabilize the USA, and take away our 2nd Amendment Rights.
The WEF Oligarchy (that phony-baloney Bernie Sanders pretends to fight against ~ as he supports their evil agenda EVERY STEP OF THE WAY) … is feeding the MSM with Anti-ICE News (they fund & create) to Gaslight the Marxist Bleeding Heart Liberal SHEEP in HELPING Islamic Jihadists takeover of these United States of America.
PLEASE WATCH the VIDEO BELOW to understand better what is happening to degrade, and takeover America, insert Sharia Law (the United States Constitution will soon be Null & Void if we do not stop this).
We need to #BanShariaLAw and #BanMuslimBrotherhood NOW!
PETER MCILVENNA: Marxists Working with Political Islam to Take Down America | Ep 59 | Going Rogue
Lara Logan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fx809NQUbQ