AB 2600 ensures that no Californian faces deportation without due process
On Tuesday, March 17, Assemblymember Mia Bonta introduced AB 2600, landmark legislation that would ensure legal representation for every California resident facing deportation. If passed, the bill would create a state program to provide legal representation to all Californians facing deportation proceedings, with priority for people held in immigration detention.
Defendants in criminal court have a constitutional right to an attorney, but no such right exists in immigration court, so the majority of individuals face those proceedings alone, with severe and irreversible consequences, Bonta’s office noted in a news release.
“The Trump administration’s mass deportation machine is accelerating that injustice,” Bonta said.
The Sacramento Bee reported that more than 8,250 Californians were deported in the first nine months of 2025 alone—triple the pace of 2024—as ICE and federal agents separated families and undermined community safety across the state. According to the American Immigration Counsel, immigrants with legal representation are five times more likely to win their cases than those who go unrepresented.
“Every person deserves their day in court, with a lawyer by their side,” Bonta said. “In California, thousands of our neighbors are being swept into one of the most complex legal systems in the country, often in a second language, without an attorney or a fair shot.”
Many of those people face detention in facilities like California’s largest immigration detention facility, a formerly mothballed prison in the desert, where a federal lawsuit filed in November 2025 documented appalling conditions. The lawsuit, reported by AP News, alleges sewage bubbling up from shower drains and detainees being forced to use dirty bandages to wrap open sores. Other inhumane conditions include inadequate food, other instances of inadequate medical care, and denial of access to lawyers.
Although California has the highest rate of legal aid for immigrants in the country, more than 100,000 immigrants fighting deportation in the state did not have the help of an attorney in 2025, according to court records.
AB 2600 aims to close that gap, a KQED report stated. It does not obligate a specific dollar amount to immigrant legal aid, but it creates a framework to channel funds when the money is there. The proposed language reads: “Subject to the availability of state funding, the state shall provide legal counsel to every covered individual that is not otherwise being provided counsel.”
Bonta said, “AB 2600 represents California’s chance to stand up for our values—a commitment to due process, dignity, and the principle that justice shouldn’t depend on what you can afford. Representing one of the state’s most immigrant-rich communities, I am proud to fight for every Californian’s right to a fair hearing.”
A coalition of 60 organizations co-signed the bill. “The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) is proud to co-lead the Rep4All coalition…to ensure that no Californian faces deportation alone,” said Bruno Huizar, CIPC supervising policy manager. “On any given day, thousands of Californians are jailed by ICE in corporate-run, for-profit detention facilities with dangerous conditions and inadequate access to medical care, food, and water. Legal representation is a lifeline—and every person deserves the right to a lawyer when their life, liberty, and freedom are on the line.”
Without a lawyer, immigrants miss deadlines they never knew about, fail to assert legal defenses they were entitled to, receive deportation orders in absentia, and are permanently removed even when they had a viable legal path to remain under federal law. This is antithetical to California’s values. According to the Immigration Legal Resource Center, 70% of state residents support due process for immigrants, including a judge reviewing their case before deportation.
AB 2600 would unlock state legal aid funds for qualified public defender offices, nonprofit legal organizations, and private immigration attorneys, while utilizing existing resources and expanding the legal defense network across California. The bill does not guarantee a specific outcome, but it guarantees something fundamental—a fair shot in court.
AB 2600 builds on Bonta’s AB 1261, signed into law by Governor Newsom last year, which built the framework by expanding access to counsel for unaccompanied minors and other young immigrants in removal proceedings.
AB 2600 is sponsored by the California Immigrant Policy Center; Immigrant Legal Resource Center; Central American Resource Center–California; Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN); Vera Institute of Justice; and Immigrant Legal Defense.
