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 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. 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ ‘Practical Alternatives 

3 to Detention Act’ ’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home7 land Security shall fully implement and use alternatives 

8 to detention programs, including a family case manage9 ment program, in accordance with this section. 

10 (b) SCREENING.—The Secretary shall screen aliens 

11 who are in the custody of the Department of Homeland 

12 Security to determine whether their compliance with the 

13 immigration laws (as such term is defined in section 101 

14 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101)) 

15 and immigration court proceedings could likely be secured 

16 through participation in an alternatives to detention pro17 gram, and shall enroll qualifying aliens in such programs 

18 in accordance with the program requirements described in 

19 subsection (d). The Secretary shall prioritize screening 

20 and enrolling in such programs the following aliens: 

21 (1) Aliens who are pregnant. 

22 (2) Aliens who have serious or ongoing medical 

23 or mental health needs or a disability. 

24 (3) Aliens who are being detained with one or 

25 more of their children who are under the age of 18, 

26 or who are caregivers for any family member in the 


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1 United States who has a serious or ongoing medical 

2 or mental health need or a disability. 

3 (4) Asylum seekers and torture survivors who 

4 have demonstrated a credible fear of persecution or 

5 a reasonable fear of torture. 

6 (5) Any other aliens the Secretary determines 

7 appropriate to prioritize. 

8 (6) During any declared public health emer9 gency declared by the Secretary of Health and 

10 Human Services under section 319 of the Public 

11 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), aliens at ele12 vated risk of— 

13 (A) death, injury, or serious illness from 

14 possible exposure in detention to a disease re15 lated to the public health emergency; or 

16 (B) developing a disorder from possible ex17 posure in detention to a disease related to the 

18 public health emergency. 

19 (c) CERTAIN ALIENS INELIGIBLE.—An alien shall 

20 not be eligible for an alternatives to detention program 

21 under this section if— 

22 (1) the alien is subject to mandatory detention 

23 under section 236A of the Immigration and Nation24 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1226a); or 


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1 (2) the alien, in the discretion of the Secretary, 

2 presents a flight risk, a risk to others, or a risk to 

3 national security, and the risk cannot be reasonably 

4 mitigated through an alternatives to detention pro5 gram. 

6 (d) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The alternatives to 

7 detention programs used pursuant to this section shall use 

8 evidence-based practices demonstrated to mitigate the 

9 risks described in subsection (c)(2) and promote compli10 ance with the immigration laws in a cost efficient manner. 

11 (e) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—Not later than 90 days 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 

13 days thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appro14 priate congressional committees reports on the following: 

15 (1) Aliens who were detained in the custody of 

16 the Department of Homeland Security at any point 

17 during the previous 90-day period, including, with 

18 respect to such period, the following information: 

19 (A) The number of aliens subject to man20 datory detention under section 236A of the Im21 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

22 1226a) who were detained for 90 days or more, 

23 and a description of the reason or reasons for 

24 each such detention. 


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1 (B) The number of aliens detained for 7 

2 days or more, and the number of such aliens 

3 who— 

4 (i) had a serious or ongoing medical 

5 or mental health need or disability; 

6 (ii) were detained with one or more 

7 children under the alien’s care; 

8 (iii) are asylum seekers or torture sur9 vivors who have demonstrated a credible 

10 fear of persecution or a reasonable fear of 

11 torture; or 

12 (iv) were detained during a public 

13 health emergency declared by the Secretary 

14 of Health and Human Services under sec15 tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act 

16 (42 U.S.C. 247d), and were at elevated 

17 risk of— 

18 (I) death, injury, or serious ill19 ness from possible exposure in deten20 tion to a disease related to the public 

21 health emergency; or 

22 (II) developing a disorder from 

23 possible exposure in detention to a 

24 disease related to the public health 

25 emergency. 


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1 (C) A description of the reason for the de2 tention of each alien described in each of 

3 clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph 

4 (B). 

5 (D) The number of aliens detained for 48 

6 hours or more who were pregnant, the duration 

7 of each such alien’s detention, and a description 

8 of the reason or reasons for each such deten9 tion. 

10 (E) The number of aliens who suffered 

11 miscarriages while detained, and a description 

12 of any medical services made available to each 

13 such alien. 

14 (2) Alternatives to detention programs, includ15 ing, for each such program, with respect to the pre16 vious 90-day period, the following information: 

17 (A) The number of adults who participated 

18 in the program, the number of their own chil19 dren under their care, and the number of any 

20 other children under their care. 

21 (B) The services provided and the levels of 

22 monitoring maintained for aliens participating 

23 in the program. 


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1 (C) The rates of participants’ compliance 

2 with immigration check-ins, court dates, and re3 moval proceedings. 

4 (D) The number of participants who ab5 sconded. 

6 (E) The per-participant costs of the pro7 gram. 

8 The Secretary shall ensure that any information collected, 

9 published, or otherwise made available under this sub10 section does not reveal personally identifiable information. 

11 (f) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there13 after at the time of submission of the President’s budget 

14 request, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate con15 gressional committees a strategy— 

16 (1) to evaluate the costs and effectiveness of 

17 different elements and combinations of elements of 

18 alternatives to detention programs for different 

19 groups of participants; and 

20 (2) to allocate resources for detention programs 

21 and alternatives to detention programs in such a 

22 way as to minimize costs to the Federal Government 

23 and maximize compliance with the immigration laws. 

24 (g) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 

25 than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 


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1 and annually thereafter for the succeeding 5 years, the 

2 Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to 

3 the appropriate congressional committees the following: 

4 (1) A report on the effectiveness of the alter5 natives to detention programs used pursuant to this 

6 section at mitigating risks to public safety and na7 tional security and promoting compliance with the 

8 immigration laws in a cost efficient manner. 

9 (2) A report on the status of immigration court 

10 backlogs, the causes for such backlogs, and rec11 ommendations for how many additional immigration 

12 judges and support staff may be needed to facilitate 

13 timely and fair immigration proceedings. 

14 (h) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 

15 enter into contracts with qualified nongovernmental enti16 ties to implement the alternatives to detention programs 

17 required under this section. 

18 (i) APPLICATION TO UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL19 DREN.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to mod20 ify the care and custody of unaccompanied alien children 

21 (as such term is defined in section 462(g)(2) of the Home22 land Security Act (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))). 

23 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

24 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT25 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional comVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Jan 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9039.IH H9039

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1 mittees’’ means the Committee on the Judiciary of 

2 the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

3 Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 

4 Representatives, the Committee on Appropriations of 

5 the House of Representatives, the Committee on the 

6 Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee on Home7 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen8 ate, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

9 Senate. 

10 (2) FAMILY CASE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.— 

11 The term ‘‘family case management program’’ 

12 means an alternatives to detention program to sup13 port compliance of family units with immigration 

14 proceedings by providing services, which may include 

15 the following: 

16 (A) Individualized family service plans. 

17 (B) Information about options available to 

18 obtain legal counsel. 

19 (C) Education about the family’s legal 

20 rights and responsibilities. 

21 (D) Tracking and monitoring of immigra22 tion obligations, including attendance at immi23 gration court proceedings. 

24 (E) Assistance with transportation logis25 tics, in the case of an emergency, to attend a 


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1 required U.S. Immigration and Customs En2 forcement check-in, a court appearance, or to 

3 further removal. 

4 (F) Reintegration planning for participants 

5 who are returning to their home countries. 

6 (3) EFFECTIVENESS.—The term ‘‘effectiveness’’ 

7 means, with respect to an alternatives to detention 

8 program, the rate of success of the program at se9 curing participants’ attendance at immigration 

10 check-ins, court dates, and removal proceedings. 

11 (4) FLIGHT RISK.—The term ‘‘flight risk’’ 

12 means, with respect to an individual, that the Sec13 retary of Homeland Security has found, based on in14 dividualized facts, that the individual is more likely 

15 than not to intentionally fail to appear at required 

16 immigration court proceedings. 

Æ 


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