I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6097 

To amend section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify 

the conditions on the detention of aliens, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 

Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. LOFGREN, 

Mr. CONYERS, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. SMITH of 

Washington, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. 

ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mrs. TORRES, Mr. PIERLUISI, Mr. 

HONDA, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. CARSON of 

Indiana, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. LEE, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. EDWARDS, and Mr. 

KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality 

Act to modify the conditions on the detention of aliens, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Immigration Courts 

5 Bail Reform Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONDITIONS ON DETENTION OF ALIENS. 

2 Section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

3 (8 U.S.C. 1226) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)(2), by amending subpara5 graph (A) to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(A) bond containing conditions prescribed 

7 by the Secretary of Homeland Security; or’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(3) REVIEW OF INITIAL CUSTODY DETERMINA11 TION.—An immigration judge may review the initial cus12 tody determination under this subsection to the extent 

13 permitted under subsection (f).’’; and 

14 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(f) PROCEDURES FOR CUSTODY HEARINGS.—For 

16 any alien taken into custody under any provision of this 

17 Act, with the exception of children being transferred to, 

18 or in, the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement 

19 of the Department of Health and Human Services, the 

20 following rules shall apply: 

21 ‘‘(1) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall, 

22 without unnecessary delay and not later than 72 

23 hours after the alien is taken into custody, file the 

24 Notice to Appear or other relevant charging docu25 ment with the immigration court having jurisdiction 


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1 over the location where the alien was apprehended, 

2 and serve such notice on the alien. 

3 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall immediately determine 

4 whether the alien shall remain in custody or be re5 leased and, without unnecessary delay and not later 

6 than 72 hours after the alien was taken into cus7 tody, serve upon the alien the custody decision speci8 fying the reasons for continued custody and the 

9 amount of bond, if any. Except for aliens who the 

10 Secretary has determined are subject to subsection 

11 (c) or certified under section 236A, the Secretary 

12 may continue to detain the alien only if the Sec13 retary determines by clear and convincing evidence 

14 that no conditions reasonably will assure the appear15 ance of the alien as required and the safety of any 

16 other person and the community. 

17 ‘‘(3) The Attorney General shall ensure the 

18 alien has the opportunity to appear before an immi19 gration judge for a custody redetermination hearing 

20 promptly after personal service of the Secretary’s 

21 custody decision. The immigration judge may, on the 

22 Secretary’s motion and upon a showing of good 

23 cause, postpone a custody redetermination hearing 

24 for not more than 72 hours after personal service of 

25 the custody decision, except that in no case shall the 


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1 hearing occur more than 6 days (including weekends 

2 and holidays) after the alien was taken into custody. 

3 ‘‘(4) The immigration judge shall advise the 

4 alien of the right to postpone the custody redeter5 mination hearing and shall, on the oral or written 

6 request of the individual, postpone the custody de7 termination hearing for a period of not more than 

8 14 days. 

9 ‘‘(5) Except for aliens who the immigration 

10 judge has determined are subject to subsection (c) 

11 or certified under section 236A, the immigration 

12 judge shall review the custody determination de novo 

13 and may continue to detain the alien only if the Sec14 retary demonstrates by clear and convincing evi15 dence that no conditions reasonably will assure the 

16 appearance of the alien as required and the safety 

17 of any other person and the community. 

18 ‘‘(6)(A) In making a custody determination, 

19 both the Secretary and the immigration judge shall 

20 order the release of the alien on personal recog21 nizance, or upon execution of an unsecured appear22 ance bond in an amount specified by the court, un23 less the Secretary or the immigration judge deter24 mines that such release will not reasonably assure 

25 the appearance of the alien as required or will enVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Sep 23, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6097.IH H6097

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1 danger the safety of any other person or the commu2 nity. 

3 ‘‘(B) If the Secretary or immigration judge de4 termines that release under subparagraph (A) will 

5 not reasonably assure the appearance of the alien as 

6 required or will endanger the safety of any other 

7 person or the community, the Secretary or the immi8 gration judge shall order the release of the alien sub9 ject to the least restrictive further condition, or com10 bination of conditions, that the Secretary or immi11 gration judge determines will reasonably assure the 

12 appearance of the alien as required and the safety 

13 of any other person and the community. Such condi14 tions may include those specified under section 

15 3142(c)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(C) In determining whether to impose a bond 

17 as a condition of release, the Secretary or immigra18 tion judge shall consider the alien’s financial ability 

19 to pay a bond and whether alternative conditions of 

20 supervision, alone or in combination with a lower 

21 bond amount, deposit bond, or property bond, will 

22 reasonably assure the appearance of the alien as re23 quired and the safety of any other person and the 

24 community. The Secretary or immigration judge 


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1 may not impose a financial condition that results in 

2 the detention of the alien. 

3 ‘‘(D) For aliens who the immigration judge has 

4 determined are subject to subsection (c), the immi5 gration judge may review the custody determination, 

6 and consider alternatives to detention which main7 tain custody over the alien, if the immigration judge 

8 agrees the alien is not a danger to the community. 

9 ‘‘(7) In the case of any alien remaining in cus10 tody after a custody determination, the Attorney 

11 General shall provide de novo custody redetermina12 tion hearings pursuant to paragraph (6) before an 

13 immigration judge every 90 days as long as the alien 

14 remains in custody. An alien may also obtain a de 

15 novo custody redetermination hearing at any time 

16 upon a showing of good cause. Good cause includes 

17 a showing that the alien has been unable to post the 

18 bond amount after having made good faith efforts to 

19 do so. 

20 ‘‘(8) The Secretary shall inform the alien of his 

21 or her rights under this paragraph at the time the 

22 alien is first taken into custody.’’. 

Æ 


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