Practical Alternatives to Detention Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9039 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to operate alternatives to detention programs, to prioritize certain vulnerable populations for those programs, and to require the Secretary to justify the allocation of re- sources and decisions on whether to detain people based on ensuring compliance with immigration proceedings in the most cost-effective ways possible, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 21, 2020 Mr. AMASH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to operate alternatives to detention programs, to prioritize certain vulnerable populations for those programs, and to require the Secretary to justify the allocation of resources and decisions on whether to detain people based on ensuring compliance with immigration proceedings in the most cost-effective ways possible, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 9039 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ ‘Practical Alternatives 2 to Detention Act’ ’’. 3 SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home- 6 land Security shall fully implement and use alternatives 7 to detention programs, including a family case manage- 8 ment program, in accordance with this section. 9 (b) SCREENING.—The Secretary shall screen aliens 10 who are in the custody of the Department of Homeland 11 Security to determine whether their compliance with the 12 immigration laws (as such term is defined in section 101 13 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101)) 14 and immigration court proceedings could likely be secured 15 through participation in an alternatives to detention pro- 16 gram, and shall enroll qualifying aliens in such programs 17 in accordance with the program requirements described in 18 subsection (d). The Secretary shall prioritize screening 19 and enrolling in such programs the following aliens: 20 (1) Aliens who are pregnant. 21 (2) Aliens who have serious or ongoing medical 22 or mental health needs or a disability. 23 (3) Aliens who are being detained with one or 24 more of their children who are under the age of 18, 25 or who are caregivers for any family member in the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 9039 IH United States who has a serious or ongoing medical 1 or mental health need or a disability. 2 (4) Asylum seekers and torture survivors who 3 have demonstrated a credible fear of persecution or 4 a reasonable fear of torture. 5 (5) Any other aliens the Secretary determines 6 appropriate to prioritize. 7 (6) During any declared public health emer- 8 gency declared by the Secretary of Health and 9 Human Services under section 319 of the Public 10 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), aliens at ele- 11 vated risk of— 12 (A) death, injury, or serious illness from 13 possible exposure in detention to a disease re- 14 lated to the public health emergency; or 15 (B) developing a disorder from possible ex- 16 posure in detention to a disease related to the 17 public health emergency. 18 (c) CERTAIN ALIENS INELIGIBLE.—An alien shall 19 not be eligible for an alternatives to detention program 20 under this section if— 21 (1) the alien is subject to mandatory detention 22 under section 236A of the Immigration and Nation- 23 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1226a); or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 9039 IH (2) the alien, in the discretion of the Secretary, 1 presents a flight risk, a risk to others, or a risk to 2 national security, and the risk cannot be reasonably 3 mitigated through an alternatives to detention pro- 4 gram. 5 (d) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The alternatives to 6 detention programs used pursuant to this section shall use 7 evidence-based practices demonstrated to mitigate the 8 risks described in subsection (c)(2) and promote compli- 9 ance with the immigration laws in a cost efficient manner. 10 (e) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—Not later than 90 days 11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 12 days thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appro- 13 priate congressional committees reports on the following: 14 (1) Aliens who were detained in the custody of 15 the Department of Homeland Security at any point 16 during the previous 90-day period, including, with 17 respect to such period, the following information: 18 (A) The number of aliens subject to man- 19 datory detention under section 236A of the Im- 20 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 21 1226a) who were detained for 90 days or more, 22 and a description of the reason or reasons for 23 each such detention. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 9039 IH (B) The number of aliens detained for 7 1 days or more, and the number of such aliens 2 who— 3 (i) had a serious or ongoing medical 4 or mental health need or disability; 5 (ii) were detained with one or more 6 children under the alien’s care; 7 (iii) are asylum seekers or torture sur- 8 vivors who have demonstrated a credible 9 fear of persecution or a reasonable fear of 10 torture; or 11 (iv) were detained during a public 12 health emergency declared by the Secretary 13 of Health and Human Services under sec- 14 tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act 15 (42 U.S.C. 247d), and were at elevated 16 risk of— 17 (I) death, injury, or serious ill- 18 ness from possible exposure in deten- 19 tion to a disease related to the public 20 health emergency; or 21 (II) developing a disorder from 22 possible exposure in detention to a 23 disease related to the public health 24 emergency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 9039 IH (C) A description of the reason for the de- 1 tention of each alien described in each of 2 clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph 3 (B). 4 (D) The number of aliens detained for 48 5 hours or more who were pregnant, the duration 6 of each such alien’s detention, and a description 7 of the reason or reasons for each such deten- 8 tion. 9 (E) The number of aliens who suffered 10 miscarriages while detained, and a description 11 of any medical services made available to each 12 such alien. 13 (2) Alternatives to detention programs, includ- 14 ing, for each such program, with respect to the pre- 15 vious 90-day period, the following information: 16 (A) The number of adults who participated 17 in the program, the number of their own chil- 18 dren under their care, and the number of any 19 other children under their care. 20 (B) The services provided and the levels of 21 monitoring maintained for aliens participating 22 in the program. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 9039 IH (C) The rates of participants’ compliance 1 with immigration check-ins, court dates, and re- 2 moval proceedings. 3 (D) The number of participants who ab- 4 sconded. 5 (E) The per-participant costs of the pro- 6 gram. 7 The Secretary shall ensure that any information collected, 8 published, or otherwise made available under this sub- 9 section does not reveal personally identifiable information. 10 (f) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after 11 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there- 12 after at the time of submission of the President’s budget 13 request, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate con- 14 gressional committees a strategy— 15 (1) to evaluate the costs and effectiveness of 16 different elements and combinations of elements of 17 alternatives to detention programs for different 18 groups of participants; and 19 (2) to allocate resources for detention programs 20 and alternatives to detention programs in such a 21 way as to minimize costs to the Federal Government 22 and maximize compliance with the immigration laws. 23 (g) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 24 than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 9039 IH and annually thereafter for the succeeding 5 years, the 1 Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to 2 the appropriate congressional committees the following: 3 (1) A report on the effectiveness of the alter- 4 natives to detention programs used pursuant to this 5 section at mitigating risks to public safety and na- 6 tional security and promoting compliance with the 7 immigration laws in a cost efficient manner. 8 (2) A report on the status of immigration court 9 backlogs, the causes for such backlogs, and rec- 10 ommendations for how many additional immigration 11 judges and support staff may be needed to facilitate 12 timely and fair immigration proceedings. 13 (h) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 14 enter into contracts with qualified nongovernmental enti- 15 ties to implement the alternatives to detention programs 16 required under this section. 17 (i) APPLICATION TO UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL- 18 DREN.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to mod- 19 ify the care and custody of unaccompanied alien children 20 (as such term is defined in section 462(g)(2) of the Home- 21 land Security Act (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))). 22 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 23 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 24 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 9039 IH mittees’’ means the Committee on the Judiciary of 1 the House of Representatives, the Committee on 2 Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 3 Representatives, the Committee on Appropriations of 4 the House of Representatives, the Committee on the 5 Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on Home- 6 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen- 7 ate, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 8 Senate. 9 (2) FAMILY CASE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.— 10 The term ‘‘family case management program’’ 11 means an alternatives to detention program to sup- 12 port compliance of family units with immigration 13 proceedings by providing services, which may include 14 the following: 15 (A) Individualized family service plans. 16 (B) Information about options available to 17 obtain legal counsel. 18 (C) Education about the family’s legal 19 rights and responsibilities. 20 (D) Tracking and monitoring of immigra- 21 tion obligations, including attendance at immi- 22 gration court proceedings. 23 (E) Assistance with transportation logis- 24 tics, in the case of an emergency, to attend a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 9039 IH required U.S. Immigration and Customs En- 1 forcement check-in, a court appearance, or to 2 further removal. 3 (F) Reintegration planning for participants 4 who are returning to their home countries. 5 (3) EFFECTIVENESS.—The term ‘‘effectiveness’’ 6 means, with respect to an alternatives to detention 7 program, the rate of success of the program at se- 8 curing participants’ attendance at immigration 9 check-ins, court dates, and removal proceedings. 10 (4) FLIGHT RISK.—The term ‘‘flight risk’’ 11 means, with respect to an individual, that the Sec- 12 retary of Homeland Security has found, based on in- 13 dividualized facts, that the individual is more likely 14 than not to intentionally fail to appear at required 15 immigration court proceedings. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS