POD Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2842 To prohibit any limitation on the entry of a Member of Congress to any facility for the detention of aliens, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2019 Mr. CROW (for himself, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Home- land Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit any limitation on the entry of a Member of Congress to any facility for the detention of aliens, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Oversight of 4 Detention Centers Act of 2019’’ or as the ‘‘POD Act of 5 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:41 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2842.IH H2842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2842 IH SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF DETENTION FA- 1 CILITIES. 2 (a) PROHIBITION ON LIMITATIONS ON OVERSIGHT 3 OF DETENTION FACILITIES.—Chapter 4 of title II of the 4 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. et seq.) is 5 amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 244A. PROHIBITION ON LIMITATIONS ON OVERSIGHT 7 OF DETENTION FACILITIES. 8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A Member of Congress may not 9 be prevented from entering by not later than 48 hours 10 after making a request to do so, for the purpose of con- 11 ducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the De- 12 partment of Homeland Security (including any facility op- 13 erated by a private contractor with the Department) used 14 to detain or otherwise house aliens, or nor may any tem- 15 porary modification be made at any such facility that in 16 any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of 17 Congress, compared to what would be observed in the ab- 18 sence of such modification. 19 ‘‘(b) FACILITIES HOUSING ALIEN MINORS.—A Mem- 20 ber of Congress may not be prevented from entering by 21 not later than 48 hours after making a request to do so, 22 for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility oper- 23 ated by or for the Department of Homeland Security or 24 the Department of Health and Human Services (including 25 any facility operated by a private contractor with either 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:41 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2842.IH H2842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2842 IH Department) used to detain or otherwise house alien mi- 1 nors, or to make any temporary modification at any such 2 facility that in any way alters what is observed by a vis- 3 iting Member of Congress, compared to what would be ob- 4 served in the absence of such modification.’’. 5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 6 for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relat- 7 ing to section 244 the following: 8 ‘‘244A. Prohibition on limitations on oversight of detention facilities.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:41 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2842.IH H2842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS