I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3451 

To protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2019 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD (for herself, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. TITUS, Mr. PRICE of 

North Carolina, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect children affected by immigration enforcement 

actions. 

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 ‘‘Humane Enforcement 

5 and Legal Protections for Separated Children Act of 

6 2019’’ or the ‘‘HELP Separated Children Act of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPREHENSION.—The term ‘‘apprehension’’ 

2 means the detention or arrest by officials of the De3 partment or cooperating entities. 

4 (2) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means an indi5 vidual who is younger than 18 years of age. 

6 (3) CHILD WELFARE AGENCY.—The term 

7 ‘‘child welfare agency’’ means a State or local agen8 cy responsible for child welfare services under sub9 titles B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 

11 (4) COOPERATING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘cooper12 ating entity’’ means a State or local entity acting 

13 under agreement with the Secretary. 

14 (5) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

15 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

16 (6) DETENTION FACILITY.—The term ‘‘deten17 tion facility’’ means a Federal, State, or local gov18 ernment facility, or a privately owned and operated 

19 facility, that is used, in whole or in part, to hold in20 dividuals under the authority of the Director of U.S. 

21 Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including 

22 facilities that hold such individuals under a contract 

23 or agreement with the Director. 


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1 (7) IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT ACTION.—The 

2 term ‘‘immigration enforcement action’’ means the 

3 apprehension of 1 or more individuals whom— 

4 (A) the Department has reason to believe 

5 are removable from the United States by the 

6 Secretary or a cooperating entity; and 

7 (B) are apprehended by immigrations and 

8 customs enforcement or a cooperating entity. 

9 (8) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means— 

10 (A) a biological or adoptive parent of a 

11 child, whose parental rights have not been relin12 quished or terminated under State law or the 

13 law of a foreign country; or 

14 (B) a legal guardian under State law or 

15 the law of a foreign country. 

16 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

18 SEC. 3. APPREHENSION PROCEDURES FOR IMMIGRATION 

19 ENFORCEMENT-RELATED ACTIVITIES. 

20 (a) APPREHENSION PROCEDURES.—In any immigra21 tion enforcement action, the Secretary and cooperating en22 tities shall— 

23 (1) as soon as possible, but generally not later 

24 than 2 hours after an immigration enforcement ac25 tion, inquire whether an individual is a parent or 


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1 primary caregiver of a child in the United States 

2 and provide any such individuals with— 

3 (A) the opportunity to make a minimum of 

4 2 telephone calls to arrange for the care of such 

5 child in the individual’s absence; and 

6 (B) contact information for— 

7 (i) child welfare agencies and family 

8 courts in the same jurisdiction as the child; 

9 and 

10 (ii) consulates, attorneys, and legal 

11 service providers capable of providing free 

12 legal advice or representation regarding 

13 child welfare, child custody determinations, 

14 and immigration matters; 

15 (2) notify the child welfare agency with jurisdic16 tion over the child if— 

17 (A) the child’s parent or primary caregiver 

18 is unable to make care arrangements for the 

19 child; or 

20 (B) the child is in imminent risk of serious 

21 harm; 

22 (3) ensure that personnel of the Department 

23 and cooperating entities do not, absent medical ne24 cessity or extraordinary circumstances— 


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1 (A) interview individuals in the immediate 

2 presence of children; or 

3 (B) compel or request children to interpret 

4 or translate for interviews of their parents or of 

5 other individuals who are encountered as part 

6 of an immigration enforcement action; 

7 (4) absent extraordinary circumstances, ensure 

8 that individuals who are the subject of an immigra9 tion enforcement action and are parents of children 

10 in the United States who are present during the ac11 tion are given an opportunity— 

12 (A) to communicate with their child, in13 cluding through physical contact; 

14 (B) to reassure their child; 

15 (C) to share information regarding care ar16 rangements for their child while the parent is 

17 detained; and 

18 (D) to communicate known medical ill19 nesses, including chronic illnesses, to the De20 partment prior to separation; 

21 (5) ensure that any parent or primary caregiver 

22 of a child in the United States— 

23 (A) absent medical necessity or extraor24 dinary circumstances, is not transferred from 


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1 his or her area of apprehension until the indi2 vidual— 

3 (i) has made arrangements for the 

4 care of such child; or 

5 (ii) if such arrangements are unavail6 able or the individual is unable to make 

7 such arrangements, is informed of the care 

8 arrangements made for the child and of a 

9 means to maintain communication, includ10 ing telephonic and video conferencing com11 munication, with the child; 

12 (B) absent medical necessity or extraor13 dinary circumstances, and to the extent prac14 ticable, is placed in a detention facility that is— 

15 (i) proximate to the location of appre16 hension; and 

17 (ii) proximate to the child’s habitual 

18 place of residence; and 

19 (C) receives due consideration of the best 

20 interests of such child in any decision or action 

21 relating to his or her detention, release, or 

22 transfer between detention facilities. 

23 (b) REQUESTS TO STATE AND LOCAL ENTITIES.— 

24 If the Secretary requests a State or local entity to hold 

25 in custody an individual whom the Department has reason 


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1 to believe is removable pending transfer of such individual 

2 to the custody of the Secretary or to a detention facility, 

3 the Secretary shall request that the State or local entity 

4 provide the individual the protections specified in para5 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) if such individual is 

6 the parent or primary caregiver of a child in the United 

7 States. 

8 (c) PROTECTIONS AGAINST TRAFFICKING PRE9 SERVED.—Nothing in this section may be construed to im10 pede, delay, or limit the obligations of the Secretary, the 

11 Attorney General, or the Secretary of Health and Human 

12 Services under— 

13 (1) section 235 of the William Wilberforce 

14 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 

15 of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232); 

16 (2) section 462 of the Homeland Security Act 

17 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279); or 

18 (3) the Stipulated Settlement Agreement filed 

19 in the United States District Court for the Central 

20 District of California on January 17, 1997 (CV 85– 

21 4544–RJK) (commonly known as the ‘‘Flores Settle22 ment Agreement’’). 


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1 SEC. 4. ACCESS TO CHILDREN, STATE AND LOCAL COURTS, 

2 CHILD WELFARE AGENCIES, AND CONSULAR 

3 OFFICIALS. 

4 At all detention facilities, the Secretary shall— 

5 (1) prominently post, in a manner accessible to 

6 detainees and visitors, and include in detainee hand7 books— 

8 (A) information regarding the protections 

9 required under this Act; and 

10 (B) information regarding potential eligi11 bility for parole or release; 

12 (2) absent extraordinary circumstances, ensure 

13 that individuals who are detained by the Department 

14 and are parents or legal guardians of children in the 

15 United States are— 

16 (A) permitted regular phone calls and con17 tact visits with their children; 

18 (B) provided with contact information for 

19 child welfare agencies and family courts in the 

20 relevant jurisdictions; 

21 (C) given the opportunity to participate 

22 fully and, to the extent possible, in person— 

23 (i) in all family court proceedings; and 

24 (ii) in any other proceedings that may 

25 impact their right to custody of their chil26 dren; 


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1 (D) granted free and confidential telephone 

2 calls to relevant child welfare agencies and fam3 ily courts as often as is necessary to ensure 

4 that the best interest of their children, includ5 ing a preference for family unity whenever ap6 propriate, can be considered in child welfare 

7 agency or family court proceedings; 

8 (E) able to fully comply with all family 

9 court or child welfare agency orders impacting 

10 custody of their children; 

11 (F) provided access to United States pass12 port applications or other relevant travel docu13 ment applications for the purpose of obtaining 

14 travel documents for their children; 

15 (G) afforded timely access to a notary pub16 lic for the purpose of applying for a passport 

17 for their children or executing guardianship or 

18 other agreements to ensure the safety of their 

19 children; and 

20 (H) granted adequate time and oppor21 tunity before removal to obtain passports, 

22 apostilled birth certificates, travel documents, 

23 and other necessary records on behalf of their 

24 children if such children will accompany them 


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1 on their return to their country of origin or join 

2 them in their country of origin; and 

3 (3) if doing so would not impact public safety 

4 or national security, facilitate the ability of detained 

5 alien parents and primary caregivers to share infor6 mation regarding travel arrangements with their 

7 consulate, children, child welfare agencies, or other 

8 caregivers in advance of the detained alien individ9 ual’s departure from the United States. 

10 SEC. 5. MANDATORY TRAINING. 

11 The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

12 Health and Human Services and independent child welfare 

13 and family law experts, shall develop and provide training 

14 on the protections required under sections 3 and 4 to all 

15 personnel of the Department, cooperating entities, and de16 tention facilities operated by or under agreement with the 

17 Department who— 

18 (1) regularly engage in immigration enforce19 ment actions, including detention; and 

20 (2) in the course of such actions, come into con21 tact with individuals who are parents or primary 

22 caregivers of children in the United States. 


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1 SEC. 6. RULEMAKING. 

2 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regula4 tions to implement sections 3 and 4. 

5 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

6 If any provision of this Act, any amendment made 

7 by this Act, or the application of any such provision or 

8 amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be 

9 unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of this Act, the 

10 remaining amendments made by this Act, and the applica11 tion of such provisions and amendments to any person or 

12 circumstance shall not be affected by such holding. 

Æ 


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